Two times saved
by mbabson
Summary: Dean and Sam go to an orphanage to interview a twelve year old who believes she saw a Shwu, but they find Dean's Daughter The three cross paths with a Geranid, a being that should be extinct and its sighting could mean World war Dean must now juggle his brother, his daughter, WW3, and two teenage hunters along for the He can't figure out which is
1. Not what they expected

**_So! Hello all peoples of this website! This is my first Fanfic here, so yeah. I am quite excited ::Girly Squeal:: When I started writing this AN I was going to say a lot, but now I have no idea on what to say. Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, and I don't mind if you think it's bad or anything, just leave an idea on how to make it better for all you viewers! I hope you enjoy the first chapter!_**

A dying woman lies in an old, raggedy bed, daughter of twelve sitting in an almost broken chair, looking at the burning candle, bright flames reflected in her wet eyes. The girl was silent, knowing that her mother was dying, and she wanted to say something comforting, to let her mother know that she was going to be fine when she was gone. The mother knew too, and she was struggling with the same troubles. The mother said in a raspy, hoarse voice,

"There is a picture in the top drawer." The girl quickly searched for the photo, opening and closing the drawers and she found it, held it up to the light. "I never told you that your father was still living, out of fear that you would go and find him-" The woman was overcome by rasping, dry coughs that shook her whole body and the flimsy shack that the mother and daughter lived in. The girl bit her lip and closed her eyes, fighting back tears.

"Mom," the girl started in a shaky voice.

"No, listen, he travels the country. If you find him he can help you, but once I'm gone," the girl shook her head and silent tears poured down her face. "I want you to find someone and alert them of what happened. You will be sent to an orphanage and I want you to stay there for a few months, and then you can go and find him, because I know that I can say nothing to stop you forever." She reached up and touched her daughter's face lovingly, smiling weakly, wiping away tears.

The candlelight flickered, almost blown out by an unknown source. The girl returned her gaze to the picture. It showcased her mother and her father, apparently, a brown haired man with a bright white smile and green friendly eyes. Most of her features were his. She sucked in her breath slowly and looked back up at her mother, wiping away tears and clearing her vision to see her mother lying motionless, eyes closed peacefully, and her daughter let out a tortured moan.

She suddenly fell silent, sensed something alive were in this room with her, lurking in the flickering shadows, and she was right. Howling wind ripped through the shack and whipped the girl's black hair around her face, and the wind seemed to want to rip the photo of her father out of her hand, but she fiercely kept it gripped in her hand, as it was the only bit of home she felt she had left. A ghostly face swirled in the everlasting wind, opening its skull like mouth and shrieked in unison with the young girl.

Two months later

"Why are we here, Sam?" Dean said, sounding bored and annoyed.

"Two months ago, a twelve year old girl watched her mother die, and says she saw a Shwu leaving after her mother had passed." Answered Sam, slamming shut the passenger door of their black car, climbing out and walking side by side with his older brother, dressed up in black suits, all fancy and sharp looking. Large oak trees lined the concrete beige steps, dappled sunlight falling through the full leaves, bright green in color. The orphanage was buzzing with life, young children running around on the freshly cut grass, shrieking with joy, while older kids sat on picnic tables, noses buried in books. Cars passed by regularly, typical of suburbs.

"Shwu? As in spiteful spirits sucking all the life out of young mothers in particular?" he raised his eyebrows, frustrated, making an angry sound in his throat. "And how do we know this?"

"Newspaper interviewed her before she was dumped into the orphanage system and by then she was told to shut up about it."

"How do we know that she not just saying this stuff for publicity?" Dean asked next, looking for certain evidence.

"The description was extremely accurate," answered Sam, "We're posing as psychologists for her."

"What's her name?" asked Dean reluctantly.

"Gwen," Said Sam, walking up the concrete steps and ringing the doorbell, "Gwen Brantley."

"Brantley." Dean paused, thinking. "Sounds familiar." The heavy wooden door opened, and a woman appeared.

"Oh, hello. Are you here for adoption?" Dean put on his best smile, while Sam went about looking innocently adorable.

"No miss, we're here to see Gwen Brantley," said Dean, smile never wavering.

"For what?" the woman demanded, inviting personality gone.

"We're psychologists, volunteering our knowledge for young people with issues." Offered Sam.

"How do I know that you're not just creeps?" The brothers showed her their fake IDs and the woman said in response, "Oh, can't be too careful these days, but no, I respectfully decline your offer. Goodbye." She made to shut the door, but a young voice came from behind her,

"Don't I get a say?" the woman opened the door back up after frantic whispers between her and an unknown voice and a girl stood in the doorway, looking up at Dean.

"I'm Gwen. You said you wanted a word?" She had bright green eyes behind black long eyelashes that shined soulfully and when she smiled, a bright, friendly, sometimes taunting smile, the corners of her eyes crinkled. Black hair framed her face perfectly, long, barely there bangs that faded at her jaw, and when she leaned forward, her straight curtain of hair fell forward to obscure her face. She seemed like a younger female version of Dean. Both brothers reacted with raised eyebrows and similar thoughts. Dean nodded his head and she turned away to lead them to her room. Sam elbowed Dean in the ribs and nodded at the girl and they exchanged looks of incredulously. They entered the orphanage center and as they passed, the woman who had answered the door stared at them coldly.

Gwen's sleeping quarters was on the third floor with ten beds all lined up in a row neatly, with bed side tables, some of them clearly occupied, some of them not. She led them over to her bed and sat on the neat bedcovers, the brothers dragged over chairs and sat across from Gwen, who looked at them with a smirk on her face. The similarity of her and Dean was unmistakable as she gazed up at them, eyes gleaming of held-in glee.

"So Gwen," Dean started uncertainly, her gaze unnerving. Maybe this girl was just plain insane. "Tell us what you saw that night." She opened her mouth with a grin and said,

"How 'bout you tell me why your IDs are fakes, and why would you even need two psychologists for one person? Bad planning on your part," she said as an afterthought, sitting farther back on her bed, legs crossed Indian style. Dean immediately dropped the act, saying,

"Alright, Gwen, What gave us away?" He was clearly annoyed, but he kept his odd grin on his face.

"Well, like I said, two is pointless, and I know my mum would never sleep with a psychologist."

"Wait," Sam's mind reeled, "what?"

"That and the fact that my friend overheard you talking as you walked up, and told me. She heard everything, and yes, I am confident that I saw a Shwu, shortly after my mother's death, whatever that is. I knew I wasn't crazy." And indeed, a wave of happiness and confidence had come over her when her friend had told her the overheard conversation. Both brothers were nearly shocked into silence, so many thoughts running through their heads. Dean quickly recovered, but only halfway.

"Your mother?"

"Oh, here," Gwen pulled out an old fashioned suitcase from under her bed. She dug around it for a minute and then came up with a photograph of her mother and Dean at a bar, both smiling up at the camera. Dean took it and looked at it, Sam leaning over to see it. "You're my dad." Gwen half smiled up at him, anxious for his reaction. Perhaps she came on too strong, maybe she'd just ruined her chance of getting out of here. Dean stared at the picture, and then looked back up at Gwen.

"You?"

"Yes, me." Gwen nodded nervously. Dean got up, glancing down at Gwen once again and then walked out, holding the photo. Gwen looked sadly after him and then looked at Sam, and said, "Who are you, then?" Sam just stared at Gwen before shaking his head to clear it and answered,

"Sam, Dean's brother." The slightly startled uncle and niece sat in an awkward silence before Gwen said,

"I'm, uh, willing to do a DNA test." Sam just stared at her before saying awkwardly,

"Uhhhhh…"

**_Don't worry; I know what I'm doing here and I promise it gets way better. So did you guys like it so far? Leave a review! Be a critique! And be awesome with life! _**


	2. Two becomes three

**_Wow! So six pages in two days! I actually wrote this chapter yesterday but couldn't figure out how to post it as a new chapter. I know, idiotic me. Reviews are very much appreciated and I am just very excited that some of you have shown an interest in this! Thank you, peoples of this planet! And you should probably know that I am one episode in on the second season of supernatural, so I'm kind of basing off from there. Tell me if I'm a bit off because I have a suspicion that I am in some way, as only I would be. I forgot to add a disclaimer at the beginning of it yesterday so I shall do so today._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my character Gwen and the Shwu._**

**_Now go! Read before I start on a random rant about Broadway!_**

"Dean! Dean!" Sam came jogging out of the orphanage as his brother was opening the car door and got in, starting up the engine, obviously wanting to get as far away from Gwen as possible. Sam leaned against the closed car door, a sign that he wanted to speak, but didn't want to leave the young girl behind. "Dean, you can't just leave her there!"

"As far as I know, she isn't mine." Dean said, calmer than his brother, but still very unnerved.

"The resemblance between you two is insane, of course she's yours." Sam said, getting frustrated by Dean's refusal of acceptance.

"Are you getting in or not?" Dean said, annoyed and slightly angry. Sam sighed, jaw clenched.

"I just-" but before Sam could finish, Dean roared down the street, tires screeching and radio pounding. Sam turned around, running a hand through his hair, watching Dean race towards the motel. He glanced up to Gwen's window and saw her watching the scene sadly. Sam turned back towards the road and started off, knowing that his brother needed time to cool off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall had come at last. Everyone in the orphanage was quiet and sleeping, and dull silence pressed on the eardrums of the only girl awake. Gwen had packed everything she wanted to take with her in her old fashioned suitcase that had been her mother's. In it held the only possessions she had, raggedy clothes, several hair elastics, a flashlight that needed new batteries, some food she'd stolen from the orphanage, a plain metal charm bracelet she'd inherited from her mother, and a worn white teddy bear that she'd treasured most of all, even though the stuffing was nearly falling out because the fabric had worn so thin.

The photo had went with Dean and she thought about the last two tortured months going to the library to use its computer to search for him in any way she could. Her search had come up empty, but that hadn't stopped her. She went to the police officer station and had tried to charm the people into telling her something and when that hadn't worked; she'd pretended to spill coffee all over herself. When the man tending the front desk had gone to find her some clean clothes, she searched for Dean on the police center computer, and that too had turned over no new stones. She then was consumed by the possibility that he was a CIA agent. Gwen reminisced on the thought and smiled to herself into her pillow, she was a natural born liar.

When Sam had walked out, a slip of paper fell out of his pocket, revealing that they were staying at the motel down the street, not one or two miles. She could easily walk there. but the way her father had found her was like fate or something. It was so strange.

Her bedside table clock struck eleven and she spurred into action. She stood up quietly in her jeans and t-shirt, which she had put on earlier, prepared for her ultimate plan. Gwen threw on her coat and crept out silently, no one saw her leave and she melted into the shadows like an animal, invisible and silent.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had started to drizzle, but Sam and Dean were warm and safe, for the most part, in the odd motel room. Dean sat on one of the beds busy with his gun, Sam at the window, watching for any signs of anything out of the ordinary. Sam felt uncomfortable for what he wanted to say.

"Dean-"

"No." Dean didn't even look up at he said this, immersed in his cleaning of his gun. Both brothers were silent for a second before Sam tried again.

"Dean-"

"No, Sam!" Dean had looked up, this time fixing Sam with a look of his own creation, one that if looks could kill, would have had Sam in his grave in an instant and any undead go back to their coffin willingly, but Sam was quite used to this look and he stared him down. Dean returned again to his work.

"Look, Dean-"

"Sam!" Dean looked up from what he was doing for a third time to look at his younger brother for a longer amount of time than last, but he didn't give Sam his death stare, more a look that suggested that he had no idea what to say or how to say it and for the first time in Sam's life, as far back as he remembered, Dean was at a loss of words.

"I just- That girl-" he was obviously angry with himself.

"Dean, that girl is your daughter, she has a name." Sam said calmly.

"I know!" Dean yelled and he, himself seemed startled by his outburst. "What we do, who we are, just isn't safe! If she were to be here she'd die in a heartbeat! Just like her mother!" he had stood up, and not even realized it until he had paused, searching for words. "I don't want to see her hurt." He finished.

"But Dean, you're her father! You're all she has-" They were yelling so loudly, neither one of them heard a knock on their door.

"I know I'm her father!" Dean roared, but Sam's eyes had shifted to slightly over his brother's shoulder and he shouted a warning,

"Dean!" Dean looked around and reacted so quickly you'd think he was expecting an attack. In a heartbeat, he raised his gun and aimed at the angry spirit behind him, firing and startling the young girl outside their door, causing her to scream with surprise at the sound of the gunshot and instead of running, as any twelve year old girl would normally do, she, without thinking, kicked down the flimsy cardboard wood door.

Both Brothers looked around and Dean had his gun raised ready to fire, but Gwen's startled voice cried,

"Woah! I don't want to get shot today!" her heart was pounding violently in her throat, her palms were sweating, she didn't think she'd ever had a gun pointed at her. Well, that was that one time…

"Gwen?" Dean asked, both brothers surprised at their sudden visitor's entrance. Dean lowered his gun at the rain soaked girl and asked next, "What are you doing here?"

"I followed you." The girl replied before adding, "Well, I didn't follow you here, I more kind of retraced your steps." Dean was speechless for the second time that night, and Sam felt like laughing out loud, this girl was so much like Dean, and not just in looks.

Gwen smiled slightly at Sam's expression, half laughter and half exasperation.

"Mind if I crash here?" she asked, eyebrows risen nervously, hoping Dean would say yes. The brothers exchanged uneasy glances before nodding, what other choice did they have? They couldn't exactly return her to the orphanage because than the police were likely to get involved and no doubt would dig up Sam and Dean's past.

Sam and Dean didn't sleep that first night, both filled with worry and their minds wouldn't shut down with all the strange information they had learned today. Finally after what seemed like hours, sleep claimed Sam, but Dean had no such luck, laying awake all night long, listening to the sounds of his brother snoring and the unfamiliar steady breath of his newfound daughter.

**_Ok! So that is it so far, please let me know what you think and what I need to fix. _**


	3. Nightmares

**_Hello again, peoples of Earth! So here is the deal, I have been writing a chapter a day in the month of May for the last three days. But that's only because I have had Monday off from school and yesterday I was sick (not really) and today was Daddy daughter day! I'm supposed to act excited about that. So I will write as much as I can in the last two remaining week days, but I probably won't be able to post until the weekend comes, so just don't die in the next two days or anything. And yes, I did use a Harry Potter quote. Just deal with it._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own anything excepting Gwen and the Shwu race. Nor do I own Harry Potter or anything to do with it._**

**_Ok, my cat is sneezing nonstop and I am laughing my butt off right now… I can barely type! LOL!_**

Gwen didn't sleep well that first night either. Nightmares plagued her dreams all night long.

_ Gwen stood up, sun filtering through the half closed shades, shafts of light illuminating tiny dust particles that swirled at the slightest movement. Her uncle and father still lay sleeping in bed; steady breathing was the only thing to be heard. She seemed to float over to the door and walked out, marveling at the beauty of the trees and plants placed strategically under the sun, and she was tempted to go over to them and breathe in their fragrant smell, but there was something she needed to do in the main building. _

_She glided over to the doors and opened them, stepped through. She found herself in the old shack that her mother and Gwen had lived in until recently, and her mother was lying in bed, looking at her daughter with hollow eyes. A sense of dread that started in her stomach spread to consume her whole body in sadness and fear, for she knew what was going to happen next, as she had had this dream many times before. Gwen opened her mouth to scream shrilly, but then Dean was beside her, covering her mouth to stifle the shout. A ghostly figure had appeared in thin air beside them, not seeming to notice the father and daughter onlookers. It glided over to Gwen's mother and leaned over, skeletal mouth opening slowly to suck out her soul. Gwen struggled, desperate to go to her dying mother's side when Sam burst through the door, holding a gun. He cried, _

_"Expecto Patronum!" and the bullet shot out, striking the Shwu in the chest._

Gwen woke up in the couch, cradled by the soft blankets. She was shaking horrifically, stomach churning, cold sweat causing her pajamas to stick to her skin. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to reassure her mind that it just was a dream, just a terrible nightmare, wasn't real. But a part of it was. She shivered and sank deeper into the sofa, never wanting to get out of the safety of the couch.

Sam opened his eyes to the bright morning sunlight. He squinted and rolled over. The room was quiet, but after several seconds of listening silently, he heard his niece's ragged breathing. He felt bad for the poor kid, getting shoved in an orphanage all after watching her mother die because of some Shwu. He had done some digging on her the night before and had discovered that she'd gotten in trouble with the law a few times, nothing serious, just snooping and going on private property, pick pocketing. After all, isn't that pretty much what he and Dean did?

He'd seen the video after hacking in to the police station computers. Apparently she'd been looking for Dean when she'd purposely spilled something all over herself, causing the man at the desk to go get a change of clothes. She'd then leaned over and looked for something on the computer, and he had no doubt it was Dean. She hadn't found anything though, of course she hadn't. This girl was clever and could be a good hunter. And yet, she seemed so fragile to Sam and Dean, but it was only because the eyes that looked at her were family. She had broad shoulders, strong, skinny and tall, knowledgeable and persuasive, sly and smart. All of these put together made a dangerous weapon, and they hadn't even seen her fight yet.

Dean struggled with the idea of telling her what they did, or wait until she questioned them, or maybe just ignore the fact until there was a paranormal being upon them. She would eventually find out sooner or later. He glanced at the sofa she'd slept in and could sense Gwen was unhappy, and awake. She still was breathing deeply and a feeling of guilt washed over Dean, knowing he should be comforting her somehow, but he'd had no experience, no idea how to approach this odd girl. She was obviously trying to calm herself and was doing a pretty good job. In several seconds silence filled the room again, eerie and strange. Her breathing to begin with had been so quiet the brothers had a hard time hearing it in the first place, but once you had heard it you couldn't stop, no matter how hard you'd try. Dean saw Sam was awake and looked at him, communicating with their eyes.

_'Aren't you going to do something?'_ Sam's expression seemed to say that out loud.

_'What?'_ Dean's face asked.

_'I dunno, just say something!'_ Dean bit his lip and then said,

"You okay there, kid?" his question seemed too loud and sudden, vibrating through the air.

"Fine." Came Gwen's voice, embarrassed that they'd picked up on her nightmare. She did not want to be known between the two as some weak person. That was the last thing she needed. After several extremely awkward minutes of silence, Gwen rolled out of the couch's swallowing cushions and muttered something about taking a shower. Once the water had started up, Dean and Sam started talking simultaneously.

"What do we do with her?" Dean asked, glancing towards the bathroom door.

"She's you're daughter, Dean!"

"Do we tell her?"

"She'll find out anyway." The brothers nodded, came to a decision to tell if asked.

"I don't even know her age." Dean was mortified by this fact. He hadn't asked her any questions about herself, and he could think of two things every second he should know about his daughter.

Gwen thought about the dramatic turn of events in her life since about three in the evening yesterday. She found Dean. Dean had a brother, which means she has an uncle. By every passing second she could think of something that was need to know about whom she would be spending the rest of her childhood with, possibly into adulthood.

Where did they live? Were they homeless? Did they have a job? What was their job? Would they make her go back to the orphanage? Would they have her go to school or get homeschooled? Did they drink? Did they smoke? (Judging by the clean smell that they carried around with them they didn't) Were they financially secured? What were they like? Did they have wives? Did they have other kids? Were these two the only family she had? Questions and thoughts swirled and chased each other in her head, causing it to pound and ache something fierce.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam had doubts. Not that Gwen and Dean were related, but how they were going to go about having a child to take care of while killing ghosts and such. They should definitely train her, if they didn't she would be an easy target, but the decision of taking her on hunts was Dean's choice, not his own. Perhaps she could stay at home and find out all information about whatever case they were on, but judging by her frame, she would be best in the field. Going on her personality, she wouldn't want to be tech support either. But Sam worried. Just because they had a child on their hands now wouldn't mean they'd stop hunting, right? Sam pushed the unwanted thoughts to the back of his mind.

Dean sat on his bed, immersed in thought. Every once in a while he would glance up at Sam, their dad's book open in his hands. He was supposed to be finding something on Shwu, but Sam's eyes weren't moving across the page, just staring at the paper, eyes glazed over not seeing the book, worried expression filling his face. Normally, Dean would remind him of what he was supposed to be doing, but he was almost too immersed in thought to care.

Gwen came out of the bathroom to see her uncle and father looking at her in an odd way.

"What's that look for?" they were sitting on chairs they'd found, Sam leaned over his book in mid word, reading something to Dean. They shrugged and sat normally, Sam shoving the book into his backpack. Gwen was still suspicious and made a mental note to check the internet history of Sam's computer and see what that book was the first chance possible.

Before Gwen had interrupted them, Sam had found something at last. In their father's deceased handwriting stated,

_Shwu are clever, strategizing creatures. They make their kill not only to sustain life, but to draw something that they desire to them closer, without suspicion, until it's too late._

**_50% of you just were like, "Oh, this is boring." And completely lost interest. The other half is just like, "OMG! I must review!" and yes, in case you're wondering, I am trying to hypnotize you. But please leave a review because they send me into places filled with flowers and unicorns that fart rainbows! REVIEW!_**


	4. Q and A

**_I'm not sure how to begin this author's note so I will say this, I am eating beef jerky. And for all of you viewers who hate beef jerky, know this: you shouldn't. I will keep eating it because it is awesome. But honestly, beef jerky is like, heaven in your mouth. It's dried meat, people, how could you not love it? I am so sorry that I have taken so long to write, but what can I say? Writer's block, my apologies. But please read and leave reviews because, like said before, they boost my moral and make my story much better. Now read on!_**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen and the Shwu._**

Dean awkwardly stood up, saying,

"Whadda want?" Gwen had no idea what he meant until Sam said,

"Salad or something." Both people looked at Gwen, expecting her to say something.

"Oh, uh, nothing, not hungry." An odd look came over Dean's face.

"Oh, god, you're not anorexic, are you?" Gwen smiled.

"No, I'm just not hungry." Dean seemed relieved and walked out the door. In his absence, Sam and Gwen just stared at each other; ringing silence seemed to echo through the sunlight filled room. Gwen broke the silence with a question.

"Sooo…" she paused, daring herself to ask questions she needed answers to. "Do I have siblings?" Sam shook his head. "Are either of you married?"

"No."

Gwen nodded, thinking before saying, "Do I have any other relatives?"

"No, not on our side. Any on yours?" Gwen shook her head, looking at her feet.

"Not any that care, anyway." Sam felt an involuntary stab in his chest, and winced at Gwen's words. _N__ot any that care._ Samwanted answered questions too, of course, but he had a feeling he should wait for Dean. So the odd pair sat in wait for quite some time, thinking, wondering about each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean started the engine of his beloved impala, driving off, mind set in a distant world, not focusing on driving. If Gwen could find them that easily, they should all move to a different motel, for who knows what else could find them. What was his daughter like, anyway? Dean just hoped she wasn't anything like him at that age. Dean shivered, thinking that if she was like him, they would have something almost as bad as a demon on their hands. Without the evil, killing people, possessing people and going completely insane part, of course. Speaking of demons, they should get her a charm that repels them. He thought hard and remembered that Sam had one stored in the glove compartment and leaned over to get it. He slipped it in his pocket, planning on giving it to Gwen as soon as he got back to the motel. Dean looked up and quickly jerked back into his own lane, for the rest of the drive keeping his eyes and mind on the road.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen jumped when Dean banged through the door, announcing loudly of his arrival. She quickly wiped her wet cheeks and grabbed a book within her reach and looked up at him, having no evidence of sadness on her face.

"Here," Dean said and threw the charm at her. It was a simple metal lump crafted into intricate symbols and a star in a circle. Gwen turned it over in her hands.

"Oh, thanks," she said, trying to sound nonchalant about it, as if her and her mom hadn't been so poor that they'd had to eat at soup kitchens for their whole lives. "What's it for?"

"Think of it as a 'welcome to the family' gift." Dean answered. Sam looked up and recognized it for what it was, giving Dean a _'good thinking'_ look.

Gwen took a seat at the table for three in the other room, feeling she should be with them even though she wasn't hungry. That was what normal families did, right? 'Course, she hadn't had the faintest idea that they weren't what you'd call a normal family yet.

"So…." Gwen prompted them, as she had never been a good conversation starter.

"How old are you?" Dean said, immediately getting an elbow in the ribs from his brother, as he had spoken with his mouth full of egg mcmuffin. "What?" Gwen smiled; watching the two interact was like they were almost still kids.

"No hope for you, is there?" Sam said, annoyed.

"Twelve, my full name is Gwen Autumn Brantley, and I was born exactly a month from now." Gwen recited, as she had done many times before at the orphanage, preparing for when she finally met her father. "Alright, answer for an answer, then?" she said. "Are we homeless, Will you send me to school, and are you guys religious?" Sam and Dean was surprised at her for a moment, but then Dean replied,

"No, we just travel, on business and stuff, not really religious, and not sure about the school." no Both people looked across the table, expecting her to go on, they had no further questions.

"Oh, ummm…" Gwen thought. She hated how she could think of a million questions when she didn't need them, but when she did, they would all run for cover. "What's the deal on smoking and drinking?"

Dean was shocked and said, "Not until you're twenty one."

"No, no, you guys." Gwen smiled, slightly embarrassed. She should have been more clear.

"Oh! We don't smoke but yeah, we do drink." Dean felt awkward answering questions like this, back and forth, but oh, well. Gwen dared herself to ask the question she wanted to, and as soon as she did she bit her tongue.

"You're not violent drunks, are you?" Both brothers laughed at this and Gwen allowed herself a smile. After that the tension evaporated some and they all felt more comfortable. Dean and Sam finished their breakfast, Dean saying on standing up, throwing away the wrappers,

"Okay! Pack up, we're leaving." Sam got up, knowing why they had to, but Gwen was momentarily stunned, thinking for a second they were leaving her and her heart sank like a stone into her stomach before reminding herself that they probably weren't planning on doing that, right?

"What? Where are we going?"

"Different motel. If you found us, who knows what else might." Dean immediately smacked himself in the head mentally. Gwen picked up on the 'what else' instead of 'whom else', but ignored the fact before exclaiming, a smile spreading across her face.

"Are you guys on the run from the law?" the brothers exchanged looks, not able to come up with a better explanation. Gwen laughed, bringing her meager suitcase to the car. "Ha! I knew it! Awesome!" She looked across the parking lot, wondering which one was theirs. When she saw Dean and Sam heading over to their Impala, she said appreciatively,

"Wow, nice car." She climbed in the back seat before remembering,

"Oh! Hold on, I forgot something!" she quickly unbuckled herself and got out of the car, running over to the room they'd stayed in. Dean and Sam waited in the car, expecting for her to return in seconds, while Dean couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief she hadn't asked them about their job. A high pitched scream came from the motel room and Dean's heart jumped into his throat, knowing it to be Gwen's.

**_Ugggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg sorry, once again for taking so long, but in eleven more days I'm all yours. Can't wait until summer! Leave a review, they are greatly appreciated. _**


	5. Beef jerky

**_You people are amazing. Like, really. Whenever I get on in the morning and check on my story, and I see how many people have read it or marked it favorite, or if you're following the story, I get this weird fuzzy feeling staring in my heart and then sinking into my stomach, then rockets up and explodes. And then I start to shake. But now I'm gushing. And I don't gush. You people pull that out of me, and if you knew me as one as my close friends, if I ever started to gush, you'd either smack me or accuse of me of being an imposter. But seriously, guys, you are awesome. Thank you for everything. And yes, maybe I did dedicate this chapter to beef jerky._**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen and the Shwu._**

Dean had only one thought: get to her fast. He jumped out of the car; hand on his hand gun, brother on his heels. They burst through the unlocked door and saw Gwen sitting on the floor like she'd fallen over, shocked and scared by whatever she'd seen.

"Where is it!?" Dean yelled. Gwen pointed in the other room and the two men rushed in, guns in their hands, ready to shoot at whatever moved. Dean saw it disappearing out the window and ran over to the ghost, aiming his gun and letting out two shots, both of them thunking into tree trunks, as the ghostly, skeletal Shwu disappeared in to the greenery. Dean swore loudly and turned to see his brother at Gwen's side, trying to comfort her in any way he could, but what she needed right now were answers, not comfort. Gwen was shaking very visibly, looking at the ground, eyes wide, yet her cheeks were dry.

"You okay?" Dean said urgently, extending an arm to her shoulder, but Gwen regained her tough stature within seconds.

"What the heck was that thing?" She practically yelled at Dean, clearly ticked off, looking about ready to punch him in the arm. Dean was startled at the sudden change in attitude this girl possessed.

"Dean, we need to go!" Sam said, glancing out the window to meet scared stares of passersby, who he had heard shriek and scream with fear at the sound of gunshot.

"Tell you in the car. Come on!" The threesome ran out the room and into the car, tires screeching as they raced away from the scene. After several seconds of heavy breathing, Gwen yelled,

"Tell me what that thing was now, or else I'll start to scream bloody murder!" Both men shrank away from her words, and Dean said, quickly, before glancing at his brother almost apologetically,

"Shwu."

"What the heck is a Shwu?" Gwen had her voice raised considerably, pronouncing every syllable clearly.

"Spirits of mothers who died in childbirth, they feel the need to get revenge on young mothers." Dean held his breath, waiting for Gwen to react. Gwen paused, breathing ragged, and then fading into soft, short breaths. She fingered the charm on her hand bracelet, thinking that they were insane, but then again, if she had seen it, she must be too…

"Start at the beginning." She said, settling in for a long story. The brothers exchanged nervous and surprised glances before Sam started,

"In 1983, when I was six months old and Dean was four, our mother died of a house fire. Only it wasn't exactly a normal house fire…"

Several hours later, at around lunch, the story was over and the loudest silence you've ever heard rang through the car. Dean pulled into a gas/store/Amato's to get something to eat and both men turned around to see Gwen with her eyes closed peacefully, and for a moment, both people thought she was asleep. Dean smiled internally, eyes soft before she opened her green eyes, saying,

"Is that it, then?" Dean and Sam were surprised to get that response, but Gwen caught sight of Dean's softened expression then said, "Wha- why are you looking at me like that?" she yawned and had the sudden urge to get out of the car and run for miles, the effect of being cooped up in a car finally catching up to her. Her legs ached to be used and she was on the point of unbuckling herself when Dean said,

"Hold on, what do you mean, is that it?" Gwen said quickly,

"Exactly what I said, I figured it was something like that, well, not like that, I just thought that that was what you did." Dean made a sound in his throat and said,

"How?" Gwen gave the both of them a look and said,

"You two really need to start deleting your internet history." Sam and Dean just stared at Gwen, Gwen rising her eyebrows and asking, "What? You can't blame me for that." She looked at Sam, "Hacking into police computers! And researching me? You could have just asked me to my face. Can you teach me how to do that though?" She said it like a mother, but with a laugh barely disguised; she loved the expressions on their faces. "And Dean! I won't even start." She shook her head jokingly, a faint smile on her face, getting out and walking swiftly over to the store, Dean and Sam getting out and rushing up behind her, but not before exchanging looks of incredulously at this interesting kid.

The only reason Gwen was portraying a personality of not caring was so she could disguise her true reaction, disbelief, anger, confusion, fear, amazement, excitement. She couldn't really tell why she felt all these emotions at the same time, all at once, but pushed the thoughts out of her mind, not wanting to dwell upon the feeling until late at night, the silence and dark helped her think, sort out her mind, as right now, she felt like her brain was a blender of thoughts and questions and feelings and strewn pens and pencils.

Sam couldn't help but smile in a melancholy way, for he suspected she was just trying to fool them into believing she could take anything and everything in stride and nothing could slow her down. He had done that frequently in his lifetime, and he vowed to help her in any way he could.

Dean looked around inside the grimy shop, floor tiles cracked and pulling away from the floor, ceiling stained brown because of a leaky roof, and asked the girl at the counter where the next motel was. She pointed him in the right direction, bored, and he then buried himself in his own thoughts. He knew that he could go as far off as he liked, the Shwu would follow them. He knew that it was after them, but for what reason? Other than them being who they were, if there was a reason. Half of his brain told him it was seeking them but for a specific purpose, but the other disagreed.

Gwen knew that she had no money, but she browsed the isles anyway, everything looked good. She could settle for anything, except a particularly disgusting bag of peanuts that looked like it had mold in it. Her stomach angrily inflicted pain upon her and she winced, at least it wasn't growling. She didn't want to bug Dean or Sam for something, so she just shrugged the feeling off, thinking that she'd survived her whole life not eating much, she could deal with a bit of stomach pains. Her mind, unwilling by its owner, jumped back to what Sam and Dean did, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She caught sight of a bag of beef jerky and she bit her lip, as it sounded really good right about now and whenever they found enough spare change, her mother had bought it for the two of them, saying that it was a treat, and they could usually make it last for a week.

Sam caught sight of her looking wistfully at the bag, and he crossed over to it, but when he'd gotten there, she'd quickly turned away, not wanting to have that conversation. Sam sighed internally, but picked up the bag and brought it over to the counter, anyway.

When Dean saw Sam with a bag of beef jerky, he was surprised and turned to look at him, eyebrows raised and said,

"Since when do you eat meat?"

"It's not for me," he said, looking back at Gwen, now looking around aimlessly, "It's for her."

"Oh," Dean said, mind immediately going to a different place, looking at Gwen.

Gwen got in the car, letting her head rest against the cool window glass, thinking and wondering about death. She had no idea why this thought had come so suddenly, but it had, and she pondered over the subject like she had every day, thinking about coffins and cremation and cemeteries. She supposed the thought had something to do with the story Dean and Sam had told her. But was it just a campfire legend, or was it actually true? She had seen with her own two eyes that thing, the Shwu, its haunting face hovering inches above her, eyes hollow pits, empty sockets peering at her from its shrunken, shriveled face, nose nothing more than a lump of bone that protruded from its skeletal face. Its claw like hands raised above her, ready to kill, stench of death and pickled things reaching Gwen's nostrils. She shivered and sank deeper into the seat, willing the picture out of her mind, knowing it would haunt her dreams at night.

She closed her eyes to imagine something better, but a bag of beef jerky landed in her lap, and she exclaimed a startled, "Oh!" she picked the bag up, a feeling of guilt washing over her like a wave. "You didn't have to…" she stopped herself, looking up at Dean and Sam as they stopped the car, both with odd smiles on their face. "Uh, thank you." Her face burned, and she tucked the bag away into her suitcase.

Later on that night in the new motel, when she thought no one was looking, she opened the bag, the smell of the wonderful meat making her mouth water. She took out all the pieces, putting them in order from biggest to smallest, and ate the smallest piece in the bag, along with the crumbs at the bottom. Dean watched from over her shoulder, thinking that he'd just eaten the whole bag in one go, and he admired the girl's patience.

**_Oh my gosh, I know, really boring chapter, and I am sorry! And yes, while I was writing this, I was eating beef jerky again. The protein helps me think, I believe. To be really honest, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this… but leave me a review, I'm sure that will get me ideas! _****_  
_**


	6. A storm is coming

**_In response to Natalie's review, since you don't have an account and I couldn't find any other way of answering you, the only reason I have Gwen as young as she is is because I noticed that most other daddy Dean stories have older daughters in them, and I thought there needed to be one with a young girl in it, so it now exists. I am so sorry about the long wait for everything. I really need to spend more of my time writing… but I had a block again, I am so sorry, really, I am. Read on!_**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen and Shwu._**

"Okay, now what do I do?" Gwen, Dean and Sam were in a secluded bit of woods that Sam had found on a satellite map, which Dean thought would be the perfect place to teach Gwen to learn how to shoot a handgun. Sam was leaning against the side of the impala, watching from afar, not wanting to be anywhere near a kid shooting a gun.

"Hold it like this," Dean said, demonstrating and then explaining, "put your writing hand on the grip of the gun, to control recoil, then you other one on top of it, like that, yeah." Gwen felt like an idiot, holding a gun in the middle of the woods and then she asked,

"I thought that you only held it with one hand." Dean looked down at her, feet in the right position; ready to fire.

"Well, yes, but you're a beginner." She nodded and returned her attention to the target, glass bottles resting on one particularly flat branch of a large pine tree. "Okay, aim for the first one," he glanced down at her, she had one of her eyes squinted shut. "Keep both eyes open." She corrected her mistake and on Dean's word, squeezed the trigger, nothing happening, and she lowered the gun, looking up at Dean.

"Can I try it with bullets now?"

Sam had no luck finding the Shwu that was after them. It made it harder because they were wandering creatures, never really stayed in one place. They lived as long as their orphaned children did, but that didn't help at all. He sighed and went back to his father's journal, not finding anything new, as they were rare things and their father had only encountered two over his lifetime, both times he hadn't been with Sam or Dean. He had tried every tactic in the book, and nothing helped. You could dispose of them like any other ghost, but they lived through their kid, so you couldn't really burn an object, and make it go away, you'd have to burn a living human being. Sam searched for any alternative, but had come up with nothing. He reminded himself that they probably never find its kid anyway, but they were still left with an unsolved problem.

A loud bang startled Sam, who had been immersed in thought, and he looked up to see Gwen grinning goofily.

"Wow, that was a fail." The bullet had gone sailing off, missing its target by several feet. The recoil of the gun had shocked her, and had nearly knocked her over, but she had somehow remained on her feet.

"Again." said Dean, and Gwen drew a huge breath, placing her feet firmly on the ground, holding it like Dean had showed her. She pulled the trigger after aiming carefully, and the jerk of the gun had controlled her less than before, and she saw that her bullet had scored a bull's eye. She smiled, feeling a sense of triumph. Gwen looked up at Dean, who didn't seem the slightest bit impressed. Inside, though, he smiled, glowing with pride, not realizing that he appeared not to care when he said for the second time,

"Again." The whole afternoon Gwen practiced, shooting at smaller targets, and succeeding. She felt like she was wasting both Dean and Sam's time and bullets, but they insisted she wasn't. By the time the sun was setting, she could shoot pretty much anything with dead accuracy.

"Alright, let's go, it's getting dark." Gwen unloaded the gun and gave it to Dean, not sure what else to do with it or where to put it. She got in the back of the Impala, yawning widely, saying,

"Well that was fun." She closed her eyes.

Two days had passed since they had told them what they did, and she was starting to get used to it. To be honest, she still kind of thought they were crazy, but she loved the idea of something interesting in life, searching out something different. As soon as they got to the motel, Gwen had fell asleep on the sofa with the lights on, while Dean and Sam carried on a whispered conversation, Sam filling Dean in on what he'd found out.

"Keep looking, try to find somewhere it returns to, we could trap it." Dean said, not liking the idea of killing someone living who had done no harm.

"That's the problem, they feel no connection to anything, anywhere, except their kid, and even then they distance themselves from them." Dean started talking again, but Gwen blocked out the rest if the conversation to think. It sounded like the only way to go about getting rid of it was to study it for a while, wait until it shows itself and slips up, and she knew it would. She had a feeling that Dean wouldn't wait for anything, just wing it, and she had done some research herself, so she knew that these creatures would be defeated quicker if they thought out something before yelling, "Charge!" and shooting at it. A thought occurred to her, and she voiced it,

"They usually work for something."

"Huh?"

"The Shwu, they are sometimes independent, but most of the time they are servants to a higher hand."

"And where did you learn this from?" Dean said, and, Gwen, who had gotten to know them better, felt comfortable turning on her sarcasm.

"It's this thing called a library." She turned around; chin resting on the back of the couch, and all she saw was a pillow and the soft bump of it hitting her face gently. "Hey!" she laughed, and she could see Sam was holding back a smile; Dean had been the one who threw it.

She had a creeping suspicion that, as she lay down after a dialogue between the threesome, exchanging information about the Shwu and what to do, that that would be the last time in a long while that they'd be able to talk comfortably, for she suspected that something was lurking outside the window, watching them sleep, studying their ways, and reporting back to its master, whatever it could be.

She was right.

The Shwu glided at enormous speeds through the thickly wooded forest, wanting dearly to have this whole mess over with. The deceased mother had been told that if she brought the Winchester's daughter to a place she and a horrible demon had discussed earlier, unharmed and unconscious, she would be granted a time with her son, and then she would be at rest at last.

Shwu were trapped between underworld and life, and they wanted nothing more than to be fully dead. They would do anything to just get out of their own rotting bodies, and that was why they served other spirits or demons that were more powerful than they, as long as their masters promised to set them free. Only problem was, that they never did, Shwu were destined to stay somewhere between life and death forever. Once in a while though, their freedom was real and that was why she was going to take this one last job, and be done with being higher power's slave, true death at last or not.

The spirit broke into a clearing, and it paused, looking around, thinking that it had come to the wrong place, but all the telltale signs that he was here came to the spirit's senses, the wilted plant life, no sound of frogs or peepers, not even the faint trickle of water of the stream nearby, it was as if the woods had gone completely silent, out of fear that if anything made a sound, that this terrible demon would be upon them in seconds. The voice of a long dead, evil creature sent shivers up the Shwu's spine, the voice seeming to bury deep inside it, reading its thoughts.

"Report." It had no tone at all, no emotion, and the stench that filled the surrounding area was awful. The Shwu answered in her own voice, which seemed as sweet and as melodic as birdsong compared to its master,

"They are growing closer; signs of affection are shown frequently."

The demon's face twisted into an evil, manic grin, eyes shining with glee. "Wonderful. All will go to plan," it paused, looking down at the Shwu kneeling at his feet, "As long as you don't screw things up." Without warning, it drew back its foot and kicked its steel toe boot in the Shwu's face. It let out a shriek of pain, Shwu being one of the dead creatures to feel normal pain. The demon laughed horribly, a sound that rung throughout the still night air, and the Shwu dared itself to ask a burning question that seemed to be stuck in its throat,

"What are you going to do with her?" The demon paused to look down at the Shwu's pathetic figure, saying with a bite in its voice,

"I'm going to cause pain in the girl, and her family will do anything to stop the wretched sounds that will issue from her mouth." The demon turned away, walking into the dark woods, smiling an insanely happy smile, its hands twitching to wrap around the young girl's throat, causing Gwen to stir under her blankets, knowing subconsciously that she was going to meet a horrible fate.

**_And you thought you had met the bad guy? So what did you think? Please leave a review, and again, I am really sorry I couldn't update sooner. REVIEW OR DIE._**


	7. Secret's out

**_Hey guys! I am so sorry about the super long wait, I had a really busy couple weeks because school let out (finally) and for a week we went camping without my computer! But when I finally got home, I wrote a chapter, hated it, and rewrote it. I am not even at home now; I'm supposed to be being sociable with a bunch of drunken relatives with fireworks. NOT JOKING! Let's hope I survive to tell this story. ::Sniff:: Basically a fluff chapter._**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen and Shwu._**

Gwen was the first one up, awoken by a cool breeze that blew in through the window. She had gotten up and shut it, but found after half an hour of trying that she couldn't get back to sleep. So she pulled out a book and tried to get herself comfortable in the bed. I was difficult because last year in winter, she'd slipped and cracked her tailbone, and you couldn't just fix a tailbone; put it in a cast or something.

The book was one she'd found when browsing randomly, and when she had saw it, the librarian had come up behind her and scared her into checking it out. Librarians had always creeped her out for some reason. It was a good book anyway, though, she had been right, but it was long and had difficult passages, as it had been written by Shakespeare. She didn't get most of the story, but she got the general story line.

The other book she'd gotten was an old one, one that was about monsters and stuff. Gwen had checked it out anyway, because it had had something about Shwu. Just a quick snippet about them on the back and she'd decided to pick it up on a whim. On the inside, however, it had several pages. Gwen had shot most of it down as folk lore, but she still had to show it to Dean and Sam, which she planned to do that day.

After several minutes of trying to read Shakespeare, Gwen gave up and put it away, hiding it deep in her suitcase, for she knew that she couldn't let Dean see it, or else he would probably embarrass her about it. She couldn't tell with Sam yet, but she would take no chances.

Gwen rolled out of the springy sofa and got up, seeing that it was nearly seven thirty and the boys would be up soon. She grinned, knowing that she would get all the hot water.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean pounded on the bathroom door,

"Gwen, Gwen!"

"Hold on!" She yelled back. Dean heard the water turn off and Gwen opened the door, dressed in a black Nickleback tee shirt and cut off jeans. Her black hair hung in clumps, soaking wet and dripping into the towel she held around her neck.

"Nice shirt." Dean said, and Gwen grinned happily, seeing as it was the only shirt that Gwen and her mother had been able to afford that wasn't in tatters.

"Thanks." When Dean and Sam had gotten dressed, Gwen pulled out the book she'd found on monsters and showed it to them.

"I found this at the library and picked it up just for the hay of it, and found…" She opened the page to the Shwu, "This. Maybe there's something in it?" She asked then handed it to Dean, who read it aloud to his brother. They concluded that most of it was fluff, but at the bottom of the page something they thought they would give a try.

"'When Shwu make a kill, they sometimes leave behind a residual evidence of where they live, sometimes of their children.'" Sam looked up saying,

"It's worth a shot. Where did you live?" Gwen immediately looked at her feet, eyebrows furrowed in frustration. She looked back up at them and reluctantly told them.

"Let's go then." Dean said, and they all packed up their things, ready for a day trip.

Sam had picked up the reaction that Gwen had had to showing them where her mother had passed, and he wasn't sure if Dean had noticed it or not. His first thought was that she just didn't want to go back to the old home, but he reran the memory in his mind and soaked in every detail and realized that it wasn't only that she was scared to go back, she didn't want them to see where she had grew up. Sam straightened up and looked over at Gwen, who was busy packing her things in that old, worn suitcase.

Sam thought back to all the clothes she had worn since they'd gotten her from the orphanage. They'd first seen her in the orphanage uniform, but when she'd found them in the old motel, she worn a pair of too big jeans and a baggy, ripped tee shirt with a rain jacket that had holes in it. The next morning she'd put on the same jeans and a long sleeved shirt that was a faded blue that had been obviously worn before her, the day after that she worn the pair of jeans again with the orphanage shirt. Yesterday she had worn the shorts she had on now with the shirt she'd worn when they'd found her. Today seemed to be the only day she'd worn anything that wasn't in ruins.

Gwen straightened up and put her wet hair into a messy bun with an elastic band and saw Sam looking at her and Sam went quickly back to packing up. He wondered if they'd been poor, but then pushed the image of Gwen begging for spare change on the streets out of his mind.

Gwen sighed quietly after two hours of driving, the knots in her stomach getting worse, not wanting them to see that the place she'd grown up in was just a shack that had a tarp with holes for the roof. Gwen ran her finger along the soft, worn spine of Hamlet and looked at it slowly, wishing that she could snap her fingers and make her old shack a palace.

"Wait, turn where?" Gwen looked up and saw her old neighborhood. The butterflies ate the inside of her stomach and she said,

"Stop here." Dean looked back at her, confused,

"But there's nothing back-"

"Stop here." Gwen insisted, and Dean did as he was told.

They got out of the old car, Gwen leading the way down an old narrow alley, trash bags and dumpsters on the sides, rats scurrying frequently among the rubbish. Once they had to step carefully over the legs of a sleeping hobo, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand, snoring and muttering in his sleep.

The brothers looked at him and then at Gwen, not being able to believe what their minds was telling them. Sam's stomach twisted and he looked sadly at the back of Gwen's lowered head, his worse fears coming true. Dean stumbled over a group of broken glass bottles, causing them to bang together and echo menacingly off the grimy brick walls. A creepy fog hung over the alleyway, and with each exhale the three could see their breath in a billowing cloud of steam appear in front of them. Gwen stopped at the end of the very long alley, and when they looked back at where they had come from, they could see only a few feet back, the fog was so dense.

Dean and Sam couldn't see what they were looking at for a moment, but when Gwen pulled back a heavy, dew soaked blanket, they saw what was a very small shack, one built out of flimsy cardboard and rotting pieces of broken wood. Inside the one room shack was a mattress stripped of all blankets and a simple bedside table with a blown out candle that had wax drippings on the sides.

Dean stared at the mess and looked, horrified, at Gwen, who had her head hung low, looking about ready to leave. She glanced up at them, willing them to just go in and stop staring at her; she was about ready to start crying as it was. Sam and Dean went in the small shack, stooping so their heads wouldn't disturb the torn blue tarp stretched to make a roof. Gwen stood outside, not able to squeeze in there herself. It did not take long in the cramped conditions to find a burnt in symbol in the one good piece of wood.

"Gwen, was this here before?" Sam asked, showing her the odd symbol. She shook her head, remaining outside, not looking at either one of them.

It was a simple circle, and in it was more circles and complicated shapes and lines, there was one line that went through the middle of the circle and out the other end, cutting it in half. It had a squiggle in the center, and another one stemming from that. Dean awkwardly pulled out his phone, and took a photo, putting it away for later inspection.

Gwen was silent the whole ride back to the motel, not even looking up from her palms, not daring to say something, for she thought she would burst into tears if she opened her mouth from embarrassment. When they pulled into the parking lot, the brothers started to get out without a word, but Gwen finally found her tongue and spoke up,

"Wait," The brothers paused, wondering what she could say to make them feel better, to stop feeling bad for her, they had thought nothing was worse than their childhood, but seeing where Gwen had been raised had completely changed their perspective. "I don't want things to feel all awkward now, so can we pretend this never happened, please?" it was almost like she was scared that they were going to alienate her now, think that she was something that wasn't even human. They nodded and got out of the car, and Gwen spent the first hours of the night trying and nearly failing from crying.

She had thought that maybe if she didn't say anything and pretended that she had grown up like a normal person, she would never have to tell them her secret, hoping that they would just forgive her from living on the streets the first twelve years of her life, stealing food and creeping around dark alleyways at night, just to be alone. She thought the worst case scenario would be that they would find out somehow, but them having to actually go back… Well, worse things have happened. Gwen closed her eyes and only hoped they didn't care.

**_So… so, so, so, so, so. Blah, crappy chapter I know, but it gets better, I promise. Leave me an awesome comment on what you awesome people thought. And the next installment will be out ASAP. I promise. Review, pretty, pretty, pretty please, with a cherry on top! Ooh, now I'm hungry._**


	8. Gwen blew up the cafeteria

**_What is up, peoples of this planet? At least I got this next one out sooner than expected, but let me tell you, I got it done by locking myself in my room for four hours because absolutely no inspiration came to me, but here is the product of being bored for four hours. So, read and review. Oh, yeah, OMG! GOT TO OVER 1,000 VIEWS! I am so excited! Thank you, amazing humans! I love each and every one of you! (uncreepily) You are all awesome! Thank you guys so much!_**

**_ Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen and Shwu. _**

Dean awoke with a start by a horrible nightmare, his clothes sticking to his skin, and he immediately looked over to Gwen's sofa, he saw she wasn't there and a jolt of panic shot through him. Maybe she had run away…

Light spilled from under the crack in the bathroom doorway, and Dean relaxed, letting his tense body flop down on the bed, realizing that she was just in the bathroom. He covered his eyes with his hand, sighing with relief, and fear, relief that Gwen was fine, fear from him being so close to her. Just one more vulnerability for bad things to control him with. He felt like she was his responsibility, and a moment of déjà vu hit him. It was like when they were kids, Sam and Dean, he always had to protect him. But it was different, with Gwen, in some way, a different kind of… love.

He shook himself and looked over to Sam's bed, and seeing that he was still sleeping, he let his mind wander to wherever it wanted to go, but several memories popped up from the dream he'd awoken from, and he made a quiet sound of annoyance, thinking then about the case.

The dream, a nightmare, a horrible thing of sleep, was a possible scenario into the future, one or two years. Just a dream, just a dream, but then he looked over to his sleeping brother, and thought what it was like to be like him, to live in constant fear that when he laid down to rest each night, that his dreams could be real.

Gwen quickly jumped back into bed and covered herself with the blankets, curling up into a ball to protect herself from the cold outside her cocoon of sheets. She shivered and listened to the silence and heard only one person's heavy breath. She listened for a moment and realized Dean must be the one awake, because Sam had this funny catch in his throat when he snored.

"Did I wake you?" Gwen whispered, quietly as she could.

"It's fine." Dean answered, dodging the question.

"Sorry." Gwen replied, scolding herself for doing so.

"You should get some sleep; we're getting up early tomorrow."

"Why?" Gwen said, curious enough to look over at Dean's dark silhouette in his bed.

"You'll see."

Gwen buried herself in the blankets, knowing that if Dean was going to get up early, they'd either found something on the Shwu, or something exciting or not so good had happened. She glanced over at the clock, and upon seeing that it was after midnight, she then turned her momentary attention to out the window, wondering about her future, and Sam and Dean's past, for it was pretty obvious that they were trying to hide something from her. Frustrated and curious, Gwen rolled over and closed her eyes in a failing attempt to sleep. Now that Dean had told her she would have to get up early, her mind would not shut down. At four and after hours of wondering, she fell asleep only to be woken three hours later.

"Gwen, Gwen, get up, you're going to school." Gwen, who up until that last word had been trying to figure out why someone had their hand on her shoulder and was telling her to get up at such an ungodly hour, sat bolt upright and said in a dreading voice,

"What? You said that Sam would home school me." She glared into the face of a very tired Dean, a defiant look of incredulously on her face.

"We did some reading and I convinced Dean to wait for the Shwu to slip up and show us its plans. That could take some time, however." Sam said, bored, from across the room. Gwen looked disagreeably at Dean, asking him clearly, _'why?'_ with her features.

"We're gonna be in town for who knows how long and I don't want you to grow up to be the awkward hermit that has a gun collection."

"So what if I wanna be that awkward hermit that has a gun collection?" Gwen questioned, staring at Dean.

"I mean, I think it'd be good if you spent some time with people, to become sociable." In the time that the brothers had spent with her, it had become clear she wasn't good with people other than them.

"Last time I went to a public school, I got thrown out because I blew up the cafeteria." She gave Dean a look that said plainly, _'Are you sure you want to do this?'_ At this, Sam stopped what he was doing to stare at Gwen and muttered,

"How do you even manage that?" while Dean said,

"Well, don't blow crap up this time, okay?" Gwen sighed and mumbled,

"No promises." Dean turned away and smiled a little, knowing that she definitely belonged with them.

The ride to the school was predictably uncomfortable, Gwen staring out the window, frustrated, and Sam and Dean silent, minds on who knew what. Gwen was glad that at least they were pretending like yesterday had never happened, and she was thankful for that. When they pulled up in front of the school and Gwen saw all the kids filing into the small school, laughing and talking, she shrunk down into her seat, gazing uncomfortably out the window, grimace on her face.

"You left all the explosives at the motel, right?" Dean said, smart Alec smile on his face. Gwen rolled her eyes, annoyed, and got out the Impala, walking rigidly into the school.

"Are you trying to piss her off?" Sam asked, looking at his brother, who shrugged, smiling smugly. Sam shook his head as they got out of the car, following Gwen a couple paces behind her to check her into the school.

Gwen stood at the school board, looking it up and down, arms crossed, and a scowl on her face. She was so very thankful that they were treating her as if it had never even happened. Gwen smiled internally and glanced back to see Dean and Sam conversing with the very strict looking secretary. The secretary looked over at Gwen, eyebrows raised, saying in a voice that was clearly concerned,

"Gwen Brantley?" Dean nodded. "I'm sorry, she blew up the last school she was in,"

"Just the cafeteria!" Gwen protested.

"And I'll have to talk to our principal about whether or not she can stay here." The secretary got up and walked away. Sam and Dean turned around to look at Gwen incredulously, Sam saying,

"You actually blew up the school?" Gwen shrugged,

"Just the cafeteria, no one was hurt, it was a complete accident anyway." The two exchanged glances, "And besides, it needed to be remodeled." The woman came back with a look that suggested that she had swallowed a particularly large lemon.

"Our principal says, to my great regret, that Gwen may go to this school." Gwen smiled sadly, her hopes of not having to go socialize with other kids dashed. Sam and Dean turned and looked back at Gwen, who was looking down the hall, clueless, not sure where to go.

"Sir? You'll have to sign this." The secretary pushed a form of paper towards Dean, and with one look, Sam said,

"I'm gonna go wait in the car."

"Don't do anything stupid!" Dean called after him. Sam held up his hand to show he heard and understood and walked out the glass doors to the Impala.

Dean finished signing the mile long form and then turned to Gwen, who stared up at him, look full of contempt, as if to say, _'You're actually making me do this?'_ Dean pulled a lip smile and said uncertainly,

"Don't blow anything up this time, ok?" Gwen smiled sarcastically,

"Yes, father."

"Alright." Dean said, obviously having no clue what to do other than what he did. Still, Gwen had no complaints. She watched as Dean walked away, hands in his pockets. Gwen looked over at the secretary,

"Where do I go?" The secretary, without a word, held out a slip of paper and Gwen grabbed it, looking down at it and heading to her first class: Math. Great. Just great. She was absolute crap at math.

As Gwen walked down the hall, the secretary looked at her and shook her head, going back to work on papers.

**_Really very stupid chapter, I know, but, hey, MORE FLUFF FOR YOU PEOPLES! At least I got it out faster than the last. Next chapter's better, I promise. By the way, I refuse to post a new chapter if I get no reviews, so, review! Not even kidding here, guys, (Okay, maybe I am) I need to know that people are still reading this. But hey… yeah, nothing else to say here. And never lose hope! Not sure why I just typed that, but okay, then. Just another peek of craziness into my life for all you viewers! You are very much welcome. Oh, yeah, OMG! I got to see a real '67 Impala, today, guys! It was yellow, but all the same. Awesomeness!_**


	9. Idaho, Washington, and Oregon

**_Hello, hello! I tried to update as soon as possible and I am pretty confident I did just that! Anyway, I don't have much else to say, except I won't be able to write tomorrow, I'm going to downtown Portland with my mum and dad. WITH MY DAD! I don't think I'll survive! Anyway, sorry this chapter's a bit short, the next one will be better, I promise! _**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen, Shwu and the new demony creature I invented, Geranid! _**

Gwen frowned down at her paper, decided that the line she'd drawn was crooked and erased it with several quick strokes of her pencil end. She bit the inside of her lip, thinking as hard as she could to try to recall the exact pattern of the scorch mark the Shwu had left when it'd claimed her mother. She'd gotten down the general shape and was working on the small, intricate lines that were inside the bolder, deeper lines that divided the mark into three uneven pieces. It reminded Gwen of a pie chart, almost. She squinted at the design she'd echoed and tried to find what was wrong with it.

She leaned back in her chair and put her fist on the underside of her chin, pensive. Closing her eyes, she tried to conjure up in her mind the picture Dean had taken, but instead was flooded by a bucket of suppressed emotions. Whenever she let her guard down this happened, but she was surprised, as it mostly happened in her dreams, not in the middle of the day. Gwen opened her eyes and determinedly made a small, squiggly line next to all the others, and when she blinked, the line she had just created was gone, trapped in a labyrinth of ones that were identical. Gwen sighed quietly and put her hands over her eyes, then looking out the window, running her hands through her hair.

The sun was halfway up the sky, and the leafy, new trees that formed a small forest reminded Gwen of a lost memory, one that was buried in an avalanche of newer ones, covering it up and making it impossible to view. Gwen abandoned the attempt to recover the memory, and started to tap her pencil on her desk. Right now it was geography and the annoying, peppy teacher was talking in some distant world to the class, and she thought the voice was a lot like a mosquito in your ear, small, tinny, and driving her crazy. Gwen was very tempted to raise her hand and say,

"_Excuse me, Mrs. Mosquito, but could you please shut up? It's just; I'm trying to remember something that could save lives here, okay?" _Gwen restrained herself from doing so, but just barely.

Gwen realized with a start that made her forget about the scorch mark, that a boy with green eyes and blonde hair and freckles was staring at her. When she looked up and saw him staring at her, the boy quickly pulled his gaze away from hers and scribbled distractedly on a piece of scrap paper in front of him. Gwen frowned at the back of the boy's head and looked down at her own doodle, and added a line on the side she had left blank. She erased it seconds later, getting frustrated with her inability to remember the complicated pattern. She put her head in her hands and shook her head, sighing at her own stupidity.

She decided that she would just stare at the map of America the teacher was talking about, pointing at certain parts with her ruler. The picture of America went blurry as Gwen's mind drifted to wishing she could just remember what that stupid scorch mark had looked like! Then she wondered how many states Dean and Sam had been to, traveling across the nation like this. Her eyes wandered to Maine to Washington, then Cali, Oregon… Idaho. Idaho. Idaho!

"Idaho!" Gwen exclaimed, and then smacked herself mentally for blurting something out like that. All the kid's eyes turned to her, as well as the teacher's, and she said in a surprised voice,

"Very good, miss Winchester. Yes. No one has ever gotten that question right on the first try. Very good." Gwen didn't care that there were no running in the hallways as the final bell finally rung, and she was the first one out the door, not even caring to wait for the bus, running to the motel, as it wasn't far away, and she'd get there quicker if she just walked. But Idaho! How could she have been so stupid so as not to realize it! The burn was where the borders of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington connected! She had been staring at that stupid poster for two hours straight and hadn't noticed until the very end. "God, I'm slow!" Gwen thought as she burst into the motel room where they were staying,

"Idaho, Oregon and Washington!" Gwen announced, rounding the corner to the bedroom and continuing talking, not noticing Sam and Dean,

"The scorch mark! God, I am so stupid! It's a map; it's where the borders of the three states connect! Idaho, Washington and- What are you doing?" Dean and Sam were sitting on their beds, each holding a bag each from some clothes store Gwen had never heard of. "Do you guys dress in drag or something?" They each wore the same guilty expression, like a toddler had been caught stealing the last cookie from the cookie jar. Sam looked down at the bag in his hands.

"Oh. No." He looked over at his brother, who said quickly,

"It was supposed to be a surprise. They're for you." Gwen was momentarily stunned, giving herself a moment to get her brain back to functioning properly. Then she felt immediately guilty.

"Oh, no, you didn't have to- thank you, but you really didn't have to." She stood there awkwardly, and Dean said,

"It was Sam's idea anyway." Sam looked over at his older brother, alarmed, thinking that he'd take the credit. Sam had wanted him to anyway. An awkward silence rang throughout the room broken by nothing except birdsong from outside the windows. Dean then said to cover the odd moment,

"What about Idaho?" Gwen was happy to steer the conversation away from its previous subject,

"The mark that the Shwu left is a map of where the three states borders connect. Idaho, Washington, and Oregon." The brothers looked at each other, wondering aloud why they hadn't caught that.

"Younger minds are more flexible, due to the fact that we have more neurons that haven't connected yet, making it easier to us to learn new things." The brothers exchanged looks, then Sam said,

"What?" Gwen shook her head,

"Never mind, I got that from science class today. Point is we know where to go now, so, allonsy!"

"Allonsy?" Dean asked, pausing.

"French, for let's go." She called over her shoulder, shoving her things messily into her suitcase.

"French class, too?"

"No, I read." Gwen looked over at the two, who were on the point of carrying out their stuff to the Impala. Once they were out the door, and Gwen was the only one in the motel room, she glanced over to the bags of clothes they'd gotten for her, and immediately, she felt a strong sense of curiosity. She walked over to them and peeked inside, and upon seeing the clothes, she couldn't help but smile. At least they knew her style.

A boy with blonde hair, freckles and green eyes shining with an evil happiness stood and watched the Winchester family from afar, who were talking joyfully and causally, and the Geranid stepped into a shady alleyway, morphing into an older version of the boy. He turned on his heel and left, striding down the alley with pride and confidence, and then he misted, disappearing and reappearing in a second to a forest not far from the motel.

"All is going to plan, sir, they've taken the bait." An older man sat forward in his seat, a manic gleam in his eyes, smiling and glancing over at the Shwu that was coming into the clearing, speaking in a frightened voice,

"Sir, Mr. Broodicx is in, says he will do it." The Shwu and the Geranid backed away slowly and respectfully, listening to their master say happily,

"Wonderful, wonderful. You've done well, both of you, make sure you follow them, you know what to do." The two nodded and turned walked side by side into the forest, out of sight, the Geranid misting and the Shwu speeding to its destination.

**_So, do you guys like the little army this demon is building up? Leave a review and I will consider sneaking my laptop with me in the car tomorrow! Also, Review!_**


	10. Almost stolen

**_Chapter ten! Holy crap, I can't believe it! Okay, so, my dear readers prepare yourself for a very action chapter towards the end. I would tell you about it, but, Spoilers!_**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen, Shwu and Geranid. _**

Gwen was deaf to the world, her nose buried deep in her book, while the two brothers sat, extremely bored, in the front seats, ACDC playing loudly, giving the three a chance to think in silence. Gwen was beginning to understand the characters in her book a bit more, what caused their actions and their past. She shifted in her seat, trying to ease the pain in her tailbone, just enough so when Dean glanced into his mirror, could see Gwen reading Hamlet. Dean did a double take, then said,

"_What_ are you reading, Gwen?" Gwen started and looked up, quickly hiding her book behind her suitcase.

"Nothing." She quickly said, knowing that it was too late anyway. Sam looked around, not seeing what she'd been reading, and wondering what the big deal was.

"Oh, no, you can't just tell me that," he held out his hand, "All I saw was Shakespeare, give it here." Gwen slowly lifted the book from her suitcase and gave it to Dean, wishing she'd been more careful. Sam stared disbelievingly at the cover,

"Prince of Denmark, Tragedy of Hamlet?" He asked, looking back at Gwen, "Where did you even get this?"

"Librarian scared me into getting it." Gwen muttered, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Sam laughed,

"So you're not scared by the fact your Uncle and Dad hunt monsters for a living, but you're scared of librarians?" Gwen said defensively,

"Hey! They're old, wrinkly and just generally creepy. I think she belonged in a nut house anyway, kept talking like the characters were real." Dean shook his head, smiling while Sam laughed, and Dean threw back the book, saying,

"Shouldn't you've retuned that before we left?" Gwen smiled, giving Dean a look through the windshield mirror.

"I blew up a cafeteria once and you're more concerned that I didn't return a book?" Dean glanced up at her smile through the mirror, and his eyes crinkled slightly at the corners. Gwen smiled even more at this and when she had fallen asleep in the car at about nine that night, Dean looked at her out of the windshield mirror and a sense of nothing-can-go-wrong flooded him, as he saw her eyes closed peacefully, her lips slightly parted and her chest rising and falling steadily. A look of loving awe passed over his face and his brother, unfortunately for Dean, noticed and grinned to himself, then said in a hushed voice,

"She's really getting to you, huh?" Dean jumped slightly in his seat and looked at his brother, clearing his throat, not realizing that he had been watching.

"No, I was just," He cleared his throat again, thinking fast, "wondering how she could read that book, I would've died from boredom." Sam smiled to himself, and Dean glanced over at his younger brother,

"What's that for?" Sam smiled,

"You really have no idea how obvious it is, do you?" Dean frowned,

"What do you mean?" Sam smiled more at this and shook his head. "What?"

"She's turning you soft." Dean shoved Sam and said,

"How's that?" Sam shoved him back, and Dean looked over at his brother before shoving him again. It turned into a shoving match and Dean said when he'd won, "Don't act like she hasn't gotten to you too." Sam just smiled sadly, not exactly sure how to respond.

"You guys are such kids." They both jumped and looked back at Gwen, who had her arms crossed, smiling in an _'It's true.'_ sort of way.

"How long…?" Gwen smiled warmly, saying,

"I think I've mastered the art of fake sleeping." Dean's reaction was one of dread, Sam just smiled. "Do you guys mind keeping the girly fighting quiet, please?" she then shifted to a more comfortable position and closed her eyes. Sam glanced at his brother, a _'Told you so.'_ smile on his face. Dean shoved him again and Gwen smiled, hearing the sound in the almost silent car.

Hours later, she was awoken by Sam who told her Dean had gone in to check them into a new motel. Gwen yawned and stretched,

"So are we there?" Sam nodded and yawned himself.

"Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Closest motel to them meeting." Gwen nodded and looked outside the darkened window, wondering when they were going to finally catch the thing that had killed her mother.

Gwen closed her eyes, and opened them again when she felt a cold hand touch her own. Before she even saw it she let out a startled yell, alerting Sam of its presence, and he whipped around to see a young boy sitting next to Gwen, a manic smile on his face. Sam went for his gun and Gwen pulled her hand away from the boy's, scooting as far away from him as possible.

Gwen found the gun at her side and started to pull it around to face the boy, but he grabbed her wrist and dug his claw like fingernails into her soft flesh, causing the muscles in her hand to let the gun fall from her grasp. Gwen abandoned the attempt to shoot it and just tried to overpower the boy, twisting her wrist out of his surprisingly strong grip and balling it into a fist, trying to sink it into his gut. He caught her hand and twisted her whole arm sideways, causing tendrils of pain to shoot up and down the length of her arm. She let out a cry of anguish, and by now Sam had his gun out, but did not dare shoot, Gwen and the boy were too close together, and he might risk hitting Gwen instead.

Gwen's free hand went for the door, trying to open it and draw the creature out, which would give her an advantage. She dragged herself out of the car and the creature let go of her arm only after digging his fingernails in to and leaving long starches up the length of her arm, drawing blood and rendering Gwen's left arm weaker.

The creature was out of the car in seconds, appearing to transport to one place to the next. It caught Gwen by surprise and threw a punch, Gwen barely able to block it. She kicked out, aiming to trip the thing, but it jumped back, dodging the attack. Sam had scrambled out of the car, and let loose a bullet, which missed the creature by centimeters. It glanced over at Sam and Gwen took the opportunity to run forwards and connect her fist with the underside of its jaw.

It stumbled backwards and Sam shot at it again, this time catching a bit of its clothes and ripping them. The boy, who, seconds later had transformed into a man, didn't even seem to notice Sam, and it suddenly jerked its head sideways, Dean was standing there, holding his handgun. He let loose a bullet milliseconds after the thing had disappeared into thin air. He lowered it and ran over to Gwen, who had just barely dodged Dean's bullet.

"Gwen! Are you okay?" She nodded but showed him her damaged left arm. Dean was in front of Gwen, his arm on her shoulder, concern in every line in his face.

"I'm fine," She managed to get out before a Japanese or Chinese woman screamed,

"What was that? I'm calling the police!" She turned around and ran on her old woman legs as fast as she could back into the motel.

Dean looked at the woman and looked around at his brother and daughter and they rushed to the Impala, tires screeching as they speeded away from the darkened motel parking lot.

**_Yep, yeppy, yep, yep, yep. Looking back at this, I discovered Chapter ten sucks! What do you all think? Leave a review because I will die if you don't! (Not really) No pressure! :)_**


	11. To add insult to injury

**_Nothing to say here._**

**_ Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen, Shwu and Geranind._**

"What was that?" Gwen asked, breathless, staring up at Dean. Dean, having no idea himself, looked at his brother, who had a dreaded look on his face, one that gave Gwen an idea that it was going to be bad, whatever it had been. Sam drew a long breath before saying shakily,

"Geranid." Dean immediately had an alarmed look on his face, one that was beyond alarm, one that was one of fear, nearly nothing scared Dean or Sam, and Gwen's heart jumped into her throat, knowing that if they were scared, she should be too.

"Can't be!" Dean said, "It's- That's not possible!" His voice was seeping with incredulously and impossibility. The two brothers started at each other, each experiencing similar feelings of their stomach clenching involuntarily. They seemed to have almost forgotten Gwen, who still had adrenaline nearly replacing all blood in her veins.

"Geranid?" Gwen said, her voice high and nervous. Dean glanced at Sam, asking him silently to tell her. Sam did not look back at Gwen so she would not see the look of sheer terror her had on his face. He managed to keep his voice steady when he said,

"Creatures that should be extinct. They can morph into an age of their body; they can appear to be two then turn to an old person in a maximum of one second. They can transport anywhere if they want to." Gwen's body relaxed slightly.

"Oh, so not that bad?" She nearly laughed with relief, but that was instantly extinguished when Sam continued,

"The last time that creature stirred was world war two. They caused it. The forces of exactly what we fight join together in an attempt to overthrow humanity and claim earth for themselves. Hitler was possessed by a demon. Geranids lead the battle." He paused, a pause that put everyone in the car on edge and made them hold their breath. "We could be facing world war three." Sam finished, glancing at his brother, who was determinately keeping his eyes on the road.

Gwen wilted in her chair, heart pounding so fast and hard that she felt like she was having a heart attack. She closed her eyes, but opened them back up again quickly, for she could see the carnage, the bloodshed, the families being torn apart, and the world as they knew it coming to a standstill. Gwen registered dimly that her jean pants were soaked by blood from the wounds that the Geranid had left, bleeding much more than it should be. Gwen searched quickly for a piece of scarp clothing and tied it around her arm above the scratch.

"Where are we going?" Gwen asked faintly, not knowing if she wanted to know more.

"Bobby's." Dean said simply. "He'll want to know about this."

"I'm sorry, Gwen, but we'll have to postpone finding the Shwu." Sam said. Gwen nodded, knowing that greater things could be at stake here.

"Who's Bobby?" She asked, fading fast from blood loss. Cold sweat dampened her clothes and she began to feel dizzy and let her head rest on her broad shoulders, her muscles feeling weak and loose.

"Another hunter." Gwen looked at her arm and discovered that the cloth she'd tied around her arm did not do anything to help.

"Dean," She said, "my arm." Dean and Sam glanced back and Gwen, and not being able to fight back the blackness that creeped at the edges of her mind, closed her eyes and blacked out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen awoke to the sounds of nervous chatter outside the car, and it took her a moment to figure out why she felt crummy physically and mentally. She groaned quietly when she remembered and felt the faint ache in her forearm that rose and fell with her now steady heartbeat. Tight bandages were wrapped around her wounds and a band of fabric was fixed to her arm above the scratch.

The voices she'd awoken to seemed blurred together and distorted. She was able to recognize Dean's and Sam's distinct sound, but the third voice she didn't know. She thought hard to remember the name that Dean had told her the night before. Bobby. It must be Bobby. Gwen shifted slightly to tremendous pain rippling throughout her body and she winced, forced to relax again against her will. She sucked in a determined breath, stubbornly getting up to get more answers. She managed to prop herself up to peek out the window to see Dean, Sam and an old man who apparently was Bobby conversing contently, Bobby's forehead creased with extremely worried lines.

Gwen, who was able to move her body comfortably except her left arm, got up and opened the door, stepping out and stopping the dialogue short. Dean and Sam looked at her with relieved sort of expressions, but Bobby looked at her, not able to guess correctly who this strange girl was. Gwen looked back at the seat and saw a rather large blood spot on the seat and she let out a disappointed sigh.

"Oh, I ruined the seat." Dean looked at the seat and regarded it with a,

"It'll wash off." Dean looked at Bobby, who was looking at him and glanced back at Gwen, obviously wanting an explanation on whom she was and why Dean hadn't gone insane when he had seen the blood stain on his beloved '67 Chevy Impala.

"Oh," Dean said, gesturing awkwardly at Gwen. "Gwen, Bobby, Bobby Gwen." Gwen looked up at Bobby and extended her good arm, Bobby accepting, Gwen answering the question she knew was on his mind.

"His daughter." She jerked her head at Dean and Bobby looked incredulously at him. He walked over to him and slapped the back of his head, saying,

"Why didn't you tell me? How long has she been with you two?" Gwen was surprised that Dean had just lyed down and had taken that. Dean had put his hand on the back of his head, rubbing it. He muttered quietly,

"Eleven days."

"Eleven days and she's already in this state!" He gestured to Gwen's arm and bloodied bandages and Gwen quickly said, even though she thoroughly enjoyed the embarrassed looks on Dean's and Sam's faces,

"I'm fine." But Bobby continued, pointing at Sam.

"I expected better from you, Sam, you should've called me earlier!" Even Sam looked disappointed in himself and then Bobby turned to Gwen, and Gwen almost flinched, not sure if she was going to be told off too, but he just held out his hand again and Gwen took it in her own, Bobby saying,

"Nice to meet you, Gwen." He noticed the wound on her arm, asking, "What was that?"

"Geranid." She replied, looking down at her own arm.

"I have something for that." He turned and walked up to his house, and Gwen looked back at Dean and Sam, who were looking at Bobby then at Gwen, and Gwen smiled jokingly, not having to do anything more to get Dean to get all flustered and look at her angrily, and Gwen smiled happily, then rushed after Bobby, desperately wanting the pain coursing through her arm to cease.

She entered the house and saw stacks of papers and books lining the walls, smelled incense burning in a room and saw a shelf of bottles and old, important looking books on them. Bobby was at the shelf, taking down an oddly shaped bottle and heading into another room, coming back to Gwen with a washcloth in his hands, poured some of the strange stuff in the bottle on the washcloth and gesturing to Gwen to take off the bandages.

She slowly unwrapped the bandages to see her whole arm had swollen painfully and the wounds the Geranid had left had enflamed around the edges, turned a sickly green color. Her veins had turned an almost orange color which she was sure wasn't healthy and they had seemed to swell under her skin, causing them to appear like ropes. She tried moving her fingers but they barely moved at all and she winced at the sight of the wounds.

Bobby seemed unfazed, but Sam and Dean who had come to worry for the girl both clenched their jaws, angry at themselves that they weren't able to protect her more.

"This might sting." Bobby said and pressed the cloth to Gwen's worse than infected wound. Gwen winced and uttered a sound of pain, for it had burned and she could almost see the smoke rising from under the washcloth. When Bobby took away the cloth, the skin was back to normal, except the three shallow scratches that bled no more and he went to get her a new bandage, which Gwen preferred to the bloody, stained ones that she had had on before. She turned to Dean and Sam, who looked at her nervously, as though they thought she might faint on them again.

"Sorry about the car seat." She said, and the two brothers smiled down at her sadly, Dean having the sudden urge to hug his daughter.

**_Ok, so let me say before anything that I am so, so sorry if the world war three thing is already an episode that I already haven't seen because I am only on s2 e12, so if it is, I would feel like a fraud. ::SAD FACE:: Leave a review and please don't hate me if it is already an ep because I am really already nervous about the possibility. And if it is, this will be my own twist on it, I suppose._**


	12. Back to normal life

**_I am so, so sorry that it took this long to update, I had a really busy week. I won't tell you because that would turn into a whole book. So very sorry. Really, I am. So, so, sorry. _**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen, Shwu, Geranid and the new characters I introduce in the end of the chapter. _**

_"_What do we do now?" Gwen had this single and prominent question in her head until she couldn't hold it in any longer and said it out loud. Dean and Sam looked at her, unsure themselves. They were heading to their Impala; having stayed at Bobby's a couple of days and planning on what to do. Bobby had told them that it could take weeks or months or possibly years before the war actually begins, so just stay vigilant and be prepared. Spread the word throughout the network of hunters, they should know to be on their own guard. He said that there was going to be no doubt the activity of supernatural would be on the rise, gearing themselves up for war.

"Tell everyone, and then just wait. Go about life." Dean said, hating the idea himself, as Gwen's face twisted into an expression of protest, but she restrained herself from saying what she was actually thinking. Gwen hopped into the backseat of the Chevy Impala, happy that they'd been able to get the giant bloodstain out that she'd left. Sam had told her that the injury the Geranid had left on her arm was going to leave a scar, but Gwen didn't really mind, it gave her a reminding that ever since she'd been living with Dean and Sam, everything had gotten a lot more dangerous, but interesting, and it opened her eyes to the fact that there is so much more to life. She still had the bandage on it, and she was so tempted to rip it off, but it needed to heal.

It turned out that Geranidi had poison in their blood and a coating of the same stuff on their skin that if not treated in twenty four hours would kill any human. Gwen closed her eyes, knowing that she really was turning into one of the hunters. It felt right, though, like she belonged, like she was supposed to be here. Gwen looked out at Bobby's receding form out of the back window, leaning nonchalantly against the door frame, rifle protectively in his hands. "Yep," Gwen thought, "I am so going to turn out a hunter." She turned around then, for the unwelcome idea of this being the last time that she saw the old man before the supposed war began popped up in her head. She'd grown quite found of him over the short time they'd spent together; he was a good person, in his own strange way.

"Where to now?" Gwen asked, honestly curious. Dean glanced at his daughter through the mirror and saw her inquisitive expression.

"Back to where that Geranid got you." Gwen looked down at her forearm.

"How long a drive?" She asked, her legs aching already. She was not very happy with the idea of being cramped in a car for the rest of her life. Sam smiled, looking at his brother. Dean smiled back, saying,

"Be patient. Driving comes with the job."

"Look who's talking!" Sam exclaimed, laughing slightly. Gwen smiled, even though it felt as though her legs had already been in the car for hours.

"Wish we had a transporter or something, like in star trek." Gwen smiled at Dean's and Sam's surprised expressions. "What?"

"Didn't think you were that kind of person, that's all."

"What, a nerd?" Dean shrugged,

"Well, yeah." Gwen laughed,

"I think I get it from you." Sam laughed, like he'd just pulled a prank on his brother, and Dean tried to hold back a smile, saying,

"No. No way." Sam and Gwen just laughed more at this, and Dean cracked a smile, not being able to contain himself. Gwen, Sam and Dean couldn't stop smiling, even though the threat of world war three hung above all their heads. A light, happy feeling floated around in Gwen's chest, like nothing could possibly go wrong. It seemed the day had similar feelings, and it showed.

Dew on the grass and tree leaves glistened like a million tiny diamonds, the sun peeked feebly through the clouds and trees, causing a beautiful rainbow of colors, deep purples and bright reds and soft, pastel pinks and oranges, white clouds floating around them. The vegetation seemed to rush past, faster than the speed of light, but it comforted Gwen somehow, and then it bothered her why she didn't know why. Sunlight started to break through the clouds and cast a glow of hope on the fields that they drove past. Gwen closed her eyes and let herself enjoy this moment of peace, for she now knew that this might be the last of it she had a chance to grab.

Life, for now. Just go about normally and pretend that world war three isn't coming and you don't know the, cold, hard truth about it. But, of course, why would Gwen ever want to be normal? Gwen smiled and opened her book back up again, reading and settling into a different world.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A week. No signs of the Shwu. Complete boredom. Gwen stared at the spiral journal in her hands that Sam and Dean had put together for her, only half heartedly looking at the words that would've provided her with all the information she'd need about all things supernatural, if only she was concentrating on the material.

Gwen was distracted by a golden light shining in from the window, caused by the faint, afternoon light dancing playfully in through the half shut blinds, seeming to shout, _'__Come outside, and breathe fresh air!'_ There was honestly nothing more Gwen would've liked to do, but ever since the attack from the Geranid, Sam and Dean had refused to let her go outside on her own, and even then very rarely. Gwen knew they were doing this just to protect her, but really?

Gwen rubbed the scar the creature had left, then stopped, as it still slightly hurt, but it was starting to wear off, finally. She'd been able to take the bandages off, but it healed very slowly, taking forever for the scab to peel and fall off. The skin underneath was pink, puffy and smooth, like a baby's. Gwen sighed and fixed her eyes on the book, but, hopelessly, her mind wandered elsewhere.

They'd been able to come back to the three state's borders, but it was a vague clue, only narrowing it down to a couple towns where the child of the Shwu would live. Sam had checked all the hospital records down to the last letter, but nothing showed up that was significant.

Gwen looked longingly out the window to the fading golden glow of the sun setting, just about an hour of daylight left. Enough time to go and do something. Gwen's legs itched from inactivity and, not being able to her herself, she said with a sigh, breaking the depressed silence,

"Let's go to the library." She got to her feet to see Dean and Sam looking at her weirdly.

"What is it with you and books?" Gwen shrugged.

"I like them. Maybe we'll find something there about the Shwu." Sam and Dean both looked doubtful, but agreed, as they were bored with doing nothing too.

The Impala stopped and with a squeal from the doors opening that was becoming familiar to Gwen, Sam and Dean got out, staring up at the impressive library. It was an old castle, with towers on the sides, huge stained glass windows portraying scenes of daylight breaking over mountains and doves flying with different herbs in their beaks. The stone bricks were stained a brownish color from the weather, but the small structure still had a majestic air about it, and Gwen uttered a small sound of amazement.

The inside had rows and rows and rows of old books, new books, books that had elaborate designs on the cover. Gwen made her way over the older section of books and Sam and Dean were left standing awkwardly at the door. Dean looked over and saw an old, white haired lady sitting behind a desk. She smiled to show off brown teeth and said,

"Nice little girl you have there." Dean smiled, creeped out slightly by the woman and then walked off to the newspaper section, Sam following him quickly.

Gwen ran her fingers along the books and chose one, sliding it out and taking a seat in a velvety soft armchair, and was on the point of opening the book when she caught sight of an old, yellowing newspaper on the table beside her. The title stated, **_Pregnant woman dead, baby saved! _**A picture of a crashed plane was right beneath it. Gwen picked it up curiously and read,

_A plane crash took place last Thursday, killing seven people. Survivors were airlifted to the nearest hospital, one of them being a nine month pregnant woman, Kendra Andrell. Kendra knew she was dying, but the doctors thought that they might be able to save her baby. The surgery succeeded, a healthy seven pound baby boy that the mother named Alexander Myles just before dying._

**_Yep. Again, I m so sorry that it took so long to finish this chapter. Yes, I know it didn't have any really interesting events, but sorry. I guess it was mainly a fluff chapter. Leave a review please, they really boost my moral!_**


	13. Alexander

**_Hey, guys! I am so incredibly sorry that this took so very long to update, I have had a very busy week, accompanied with writer's block. (sarcastic) Yay! I will not bore you with the details, however._**

**_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Gwen, Shwu, Geranid, Kendra, Alexander, Alexander's wife, and Alexander's kid(s)._**

Gwen jumped up and the book that had been in her lap moments before hit the floor with a loud bang that echoed throughout the library. At the sound, Sam and Dean looked up, Dean's hand immediately jumping to his gun. Gwen came running round the corner and Dean said, reaching a protective arm out to her,

"What is it, what happened?" Gwen wordlessly held out the newspaper and Dean relaxed slightly, holding out his hand. Gwen was grinning happily, hoping desperately that the woman in the paper had been the Shwu. Dean skimmed the article and handed it to Sam, Sam looking up at Gwen, smiling almost disbelievingly.

"Gwen, this is… Good job." Gwen smiled ear to ear as Sam muttered to himself, "Can't believe I missed that." Dean patted his brother on the shoulder, saying,

"Losing your touch, Sammy." Gwen looked at the date of the paper and it said that it was 1991, August second. Alexander would be 22, around Sam and Dean's age. Gwen wondered what he was like, what his life was like, who he really was.

Above in the rafters, an uninvited guest listened in on the threesome's conversation. The Shwu looked down on Gwen's head, thinking how easy it would be to just bring her to the demon now, ending this whole thing, but no. That wasn't why she had come here. The newspaper which Gwen had found had been placed moments before on that table by the creature, the Shwu having its reasons. It had lingered slightly to gaze upon the photo of who she had been before the Shwu had died, leaving the faint scent of rotting wood, but luckily for the Shwu, Gwen hadn't noticed.

The Shwu, Kendra, looked down at the family to see Dean looking at Gwen in a sort of way that was slightly familiar to Kendra, and a twinge of jealousy nagged at her. Painful memories came washing over the ghost, but she quickly blocked them, as she had done many times before. They walked out the library door and Kendra followed them, unseen, unheard, except by the old librarian who shook her head upon seeing her and said to the spirit,

"Put yourself into use, why don't you? Don't start wars you don't want to happen." The Shwu looked at the old ghost sadly and considered answering back, but before she could the spirit disappeared, no doubt to a safer place, as Kendra felt the cold eyes of the Geranid on her back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam was typing away on his laptop, Dean and Gwen watching over his shoulder, witnessing the skills of him hacking into some site or other to see where Alexander Myles Andrell lived. Sam stopped at a password protected spot, his fingers lightly brushing the keys, trying to figure out what the password was. He paused for several seconds, and Dean and Gwen said at the same time,

"Can't you go any faster?" Gwen and Dean looked at each other in surprise, Sam looking over at his brother.

"Give me a minute." Gwen looked at the dashboard clock, preparing to time him, but he quickly figured the password out and found where he lived. Gwen sat back in her seat as Dean started up the car, heading to some street or other a million miles away, or what felt a million miles away to Gwen.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to a house painted white, with neatly cut lawn and a kept up garden on a street that had exactly identical houses to the one that Sam, Dean and Gwen sat at. Gwen shook her head in disgust at the boring houses as Sam and Dean sat uncertainly in the front seat, not sure what to do with Gwen, as it would be difficult to explain why they would bring her in to the house, but at the same time, they didn't want to leave her alone. Finally Dean came to a decision, saying to Gwen as Sam and he got out,

"Stay in the car. And shoot anything that moves." Gwen opened her mouth to protest, but they were already at the door, knocking, and Gwen was forced to scoot down in her seat, grumbling angrily.

The man that answered the door was tall and had close cut hair, broad, strong shoulders and brown, friendly looking eyes.

"May I help you?" Dean smiled, saying,

"Yes, we have discovered a gas leak in your house." Gwen heard and grinned. Ah, the beauty of the everlasting excuse of a gas leak.

"Oh," Alexander said, a completely different attitude taking over. "Come in then," He held the door open so the two could come in and fix the 'gas leak'.

Gwen's fingers wrapped around her gun, while her free hand found the newspaper that sat beside her on the seat. She opened the paper up to see a picture that she hadn't seen before. It was large, the picture, and it showcased a young lady with dark brown eyes and blonde hair falling down to her shoulders. Her eyes shined friendly at the camera, and her wide smile seemed to light up the whole dismal looking paper. The caption told her it was Kendra.

Gwen leaned back and closed her eyes briefly, before looking back down at the paper. Where did _that_ Kendra go? Did the creature that had attacked her a couple weeks ago still think and feel? Or did it just live to kill? Did it have any memory of its life? Gwen thought about the shriveled face and skin that had looked dry and grey, the hollow eyes that seemed to pierce your mind and look right past you at the same time, the claw like fingers that had reached out to her neck.

Gwen felt her neck in the here and now, checking it was still there. She looked back down at the picture of the happy woman and tried to see the resemblance of the two, but none came. What was death anyway? Gwen was consumed by the question as she had been for the past week, and allowed her mind to wander, but her senses stayed sharp and on the alert for anything out of place.

Gwen's mind turned to her mother, and she quickly tried to think of something else, but the thought wormed its way to the front of her mind, unwanted and unhelpful. At least this time when she thought of her mother, she didn't cry.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean strode into the house, side by side with his brother, letting Alexander lead them to the living room, which had the entrance to their basement hidden behind a door. A woman holding a baby that couldn't have been older than six months walked into the room casually and upon catching sight of Sam and Dean, turned her attention to her husband, a questioning look in her eyes.

"These gentlemen have detected a gas leak in our house; they are here to fix it." The woman nodded silently and smiled over at the two visitors, saying politely,

"Can I get you anything?" Dean smiled and said,

"Yes." While Sam answered with a courteous,

"No, thank you." When the woman had returned to the kitchen, Sam gave Dean a withering look, while he responded with a silent,

"What?"

"The pipes are down here." Alexander's voice called Sam and Dean back down to their surroundings and Dean said with a faked awkward smile of embarrassment, and said,

"I'm sorry, but can I use your bathroom? It's just it was a long drive, and…"

"Yes, of course," said Alexander, completely unaware that he was being lied to, "Upstairs, first door on your left." Dean smiled again and muttered a quick thank you before heading up the stairs silently, Dean and his brother keeping their eyes out for any evidence of the Shwu being here, like its signature symbol of the three states connecting.

Sam did a once over with his eyes back downstairs to check for the mark before following Alexander down to the basement. It was a space of complete cement and nothing else except the piping taking up the whole ceiling that was a tangle of metal, twisting and winding its way over and under each other, looping and intersecting with other pipes, creating a bird's nest of metal creations that meant absolutely nothing to Sam, and he stared up at it all, open mouthed, not sure where to start or end, all with the nervous, expectant eyes of Alexander on his back, waiting for him to do something.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean walked quietly down the upstairs hall painted a boring cream color, his hand on his gun in case of any unexpected movement. He slowly pushed open the bathroom door and entered, inspecting the walls for any type of disturbance from the pale blue color that lined the walls. He found a scuff mark, but nothing tied to the Shwu.

He opened the bathroom door back up and went into the room across from the bathroom, which appeared to be the baby's room. He stopped at the door entrance, however, seeing a burnt symbol of Idaho, Washington and Oregon on the door. He extended his arm to feel how warm the mark was and then looked up, and saw as clear as day a woman with blonde hair and dark brown eyes looking at him with a faint expression of sadness on her face, Kendra.

**_So? So?! What do you think? Reviews are greatly appreciated, so review. ::awkwardly glances at you, then down at the review thingy, encouraging you without words to click there and type some awesome opinions::_**


	14. An unexpected chat

**_OMIGOSHMOSH! 3,000+ views! Thank you all! I am so sorry this took so long, but here it is, at last, chapter… what number are we on now?_**

**_Disclaimer: I own Gwen, Kendra, Alexander, and Broodicx. Unfortunately, I don't own supernatural._**

Dean raised his gun, preparing to shoot, but the slightly transparent ghost raised her hand, palm facing towards Dean, the sign to stop.

"I want to talk." Dean was stuck, confused, unsure of what to do.

"You're the Shwu. You killed Gwen's mother." A look of complete sadness came over the woman's face,

"I did not kill her. I was there when she died, that is all." Dean snorted with disbelief.

"Yeah, right."

"I was trying to tell her, to warn her about the upcoming war." A shiver that was out of place ran down Dean's spine as she spoke. A ghost, trying to warn the living about a war that they were throwing? Unlikely. "Please, I want to talk. We do not have much time." She gestured to the two chairs but Dean did not move, did not lower his gun. He had anger towards the spirit like no other he had ever experienced. He couldn't explain why he loathed this one so much.

"I'll stand, thanks." Kendra smiled in a melancholy way.

"Of course. I had forgotten who you were." Dean said nothing, maintaining his cold shoulder to Kendra. "I want you to know that there are two versions of me, sort of." This earned a confused look from Dean, and Kendra went on.

"There's me, which stay's by my son's side, protecting him from close up. Then there's the Shwu version of myself, who protects him from afar, and will do anything to keep him safe. She has less of a conciseness then me. But we are still the same person; we have the same memories and thoughts." Dean listened to the new facts patiently, nodding to Kendra to go one. "The Shwu works for a Demon because they threaten to kill Alexander and his family. She doesn't want to, of course, but when the Demon asks her to do something, she has to or else they will die."

"What is this Demon's name?" Dean interjected.

"I don't think he has one. The Demon's long term goal is to capture Gwen." Dean immediately became outraged, his eyes full of fire.

"What do they want with Gwen? She has nothing to do with this!" He kicked the bedside table leg, achieving nothing except a pain in his toe. Kendra looked at him sadly.

"I have no idea. When the Shwu asked, all he answered was that he was going to use her as a bargaining chip for something you have." Dean crossed over to the window quickly to see Gwen safely sitting in the Impala, waiting with her hand in her pocket, undoubtedly her hand on her gun.

"What does it want?" Kendra shook her head sadly.

"I don't know. The demon didn't say." Dean ran his hand involuntarily through his hair, trying to think of what it could possibly want. What did they have that the demon wanted?

"What _do_ you know?"

"I know that the Demon and the Geranid are on the same level of superiority. There is also this Mr. Broodicx which I know nothing about, but he apparently is on the Demon's side. I had hoped he was a hunter. He sounded like he would've been a good one. He's powerful. That much I do know." Dean had never heard of any Broodicx. Kendra seemed to hear something and then returned her attention to Dean.

"You need to go. Our time is up." Kendra had a look of urgency on her face and Dean turned to go as she sat on the edge of the bed. "And Dean?" Dean turned to look at Kendra one last time. "Tell Gwen that I'm sorry. About whatever I might do. I'm sorry. You understand, right?" Dean lowered his eyes to the floor and walked down the stairs, looking for Sam.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Alexander said to Sam, who was on a ladder, not having any idea _what _he was doing, holding a wrench in his hand when his brother came down the stairs, saying,

"It was a false alarm. Everything is fine. So sorry for the inconvenience." Sam and Dean, Sam relieved, somewhat walked out the door and to their '67 Chevy Impala, Gwen then saying,

"What took you guys so long?" Sam and Dean were seated in the front, and Dean looked meaningfully at Sam, reluctant to say anything, but knowing he had to.

"Kendra sort of… appeared to me."

"What?" Gwen looked around from her idly picking at her fingernails, an expression of incredulously on her face. "What did she say?" Sam had, at his brother's words, opened his mouth to ask the same questions Gwen had, but she had beaten him to it.

"She said, well…" Dean sort of momentarily forgot what else she had said, as it was hard to concentrate when you had just been told that your daughter was going to be kidnapped by a demon. Dean told them everything he could remember, except Gwen's destiny as a trading chip. Not in front of her. She doesn't need any more pressure on her shoulders, not at this age. She can't possibly hold it all.

Gwen sat quietly and listened patiently, the worry of world war three unwillingly brought back to her attention. World war three. Of course one and two had been hosted by the paranormal, as Gwen simply couldn't think of why anyone would be as stupid as to turn against one another. Why could no one think ahead and be able to predict all the bloodshed to come? They had all been brainwashed by words, words craftily and cleverly put together to stir men up into agreement and rebellion. Why do they even want so much death, demons and other ghosts? Why do they want the end of life? What do they have against the living, they were humans too once. Can't they remember? _No,_ Gwen answered her own question. But why had they forgotten?

How would they attack, though? Would it be wave after wave of humans in uniforms with the leader a Geranid? Or would it be one huge nuclear bomb that destroys half the earth? How could hunters prevent any more death? After being told that, apparently, Kendra didn't agree with the idea of war, Gwen then had an interesting thought. Surely not all supernatural beings wanted war to rage on, or agreed with the reasons that it was happening so what if, _what if, _they had the ones that disagreed lead the armies or something, so then they could have a better chance to win. But it was a stupid idea anyway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen, like always, was the first one up again the next morning and got to the shower first. The light that was filtering through the window almost seemed blue, as the sky outside was grey with dark, ominous clouds that threatened a heavy downpour on the small town below. Sam was awoken by the sound of the shower starting, but Dean still lay asleep, snoring loudly in the bed beside him. Dean had told Sam what Kendra had told him late at night yesterday, after making sure Gwen was asleep. Extra watch on her; never let her out of their sight. Sam too, pondered what the demon could want and who Broodicx was.

The sudden question of how long Gwen had been with them struck Sam like a slap in the face, and he wondered why he hadn't thought of this before. He quickly counted and came up with a number that seemed not to be enough. Twenty one days. It was odd, but now that Sam thought back to that day at the orphanage, it seemed like an eternity ago. Sam and Dean had just gotten used to Gwen's presence, yet they knew there was still so much to learn about her. Then Sam remembered another detail that had first been reveled when they had asked her how old she had been.

_"Twelve, my full name is Gwen Autumn Brantley, and I was born exactly a month from now."_

Gwen's birthday was in nine days. On May seventeen she turned thirteen years old. Nine days from today. What could Sam and Dean get her for her birthday?

"Dean," Sam said, and when he did not move, Sam threw a crumpled piece of paper at him. It landed squarely on his head, and with a jerk, Dean awoke.

"What?" He grumbled, throwing the crumpled bit of paper back at Sam, who dodged it.

"Gwen turns thirteen in nine days."

"What?" Asked Dean, this time with interest and surprise, wondering if Sam was just joking.

"What should we do?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen was only just realizing that her mother had died of natural causes. After all this time of being convinced that the Shwu had killed her mother, she was having a hard time adjusting. She had been able to blame someone for three months now, half the time not knowing exactly what to blame, but still. It had thrown her for a loop. _So the doctors had been right, after all, s_he thought. Then the anger that for so long had been directed at someone else turned on Gwen. She doubled over with fury at herself. _I could have saved her, _Gwen thought, a mixture of angry and sad tears flowing down her face._ I could have saved her._

**_::Breathes deeply:: There. Now leave a review, please. Honestly, there's no need to be scared, I don't bite. Most of the time._**


	15. Iorana and Caledonia

**_So! Got this one out far earlier than the last, at least. Here it is, chapter 15! _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own supernatural, sadly. However, Gwen's mom, Gwen, Iorana and Caledonia are all mine. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!_**

****Iorana was awoken to the sound of her cell phone ringing, a sound that wasn't exactly welcoming in the morning. She grunted and unwillingly reached her hand out of the warmth of her bedcovers and retrieved said cell phone. She flipped it open and drew it back under the covers, as the air outside was cold. It had started raining in the middle of the night.

"What?"

"Iorana, is Caledonia with you?"

"Jeezum, Bobby, it's four in the freaking morning!" Iorana rolled over in her bed and put her hand on her eyes, blocking out any light that got through the thick blankets.

"Iorana, is Caledonia with you?" Iorana rolled her eyes. This man just didn't get it!

"Yeah, now why are you calling me at such an early hour?"

"Good. Listen, some friends of mine found a Geranid on the rise." Iorana, whose eyes had been closed, trying to hold on to blissful sleep, snapped open and she threw off the covers, now sitting up in the cheap motel bed.

"Cal! Get up!" Iorana called to her, while Bobby went on.

"A demon has started to build up an army, including the Geranid and a Mr. Broodicx. I have never heard of him." it was a question, prompting Iorana to answer.

"I had a fifth grade teacher named Mr. Icks." Iorana shook her head. "Cal!" She grabbed an empty diet coke can from beside her and flung it across the room, hitting Caledonia promptly and bouncing off. Still Caledonia didn't stir. _She could sleep through a train wreck!_ Iorana thought. She then said into the phone, "I have a feeling that you called for another reason." Bobby wasted no time.

"I want you to go to them for your protection." Iorana's reaction was instantaneous and predictable.

"Why?! I can handle myself! And Cal's with me!" Iorana's mouth was open with disbelief and fury.

"Even so," Bobby answered calmly. "supernatural beings will be more active, it's not safe for you. Or Caledonia." Bobby stressed the last sentence, knowing that it would get Iorana to do anything. Those two girls looked out for each other like they are sisters. Iorana glanced over to Cal's form and sighed.

"Fine. Where are they?"

"Last I heard they were heading to Montana." Bobby said happily.

"Could you be less vague?"

"I trust you to find them." Iorana sighed, pulled out a piece of paper.

"I'll need a name."

"Sam and Dean Winchester." Iorana blinked.

"You know them?"

"Do you?" Winchester. The name was whispered occasionally by hunters.

"Only heard about them. Cal knows more about them than I do."

"Of course she would." There was no sarcasm in his voice. There was an awkward silence on the line and Iorana glanced over to Cal. Poor Caledonia, been through hell and back. Iorana sighed and hung up.

Bobby did not only want Iorana and Cal to be safer, but Sam, Dean and Gwen to be too. They'd be good assets to each other. Dean had called him and filled him in on the new information he'd acquired and had also told him about the danger Gwen was in. _Two more pairs of eyes couldn't hurt. _Bobby thought. He had liked the girl instantly and had promised Dean and Sam to protect her if anything bad happened to them. He would protect her even if they weren't dead. He would never admit it, but he felt like a grandfather to the kid, as well to Iorana.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Montana would be a couple hour drive from where they were at the moment. Iorana rolled out of the springy bed and walked over to Cal, who was still sleeping soundly. Iorana sat on the floor and put her mouth inches away from Cal's ear. Iorana drew and deep breath, and then shouted,

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!" She still didn't move. _Yup, sleep through an atomic bomb. _After several seconds of silence in which Iorana just stared at the lump of blankets who was Caledonia, the blankets rustled and sighed. Then the covers were pulled back and Cal and Iorana stared at each other for two seconds, Cal's eyes focusing before she yelled with surprise and jerked away from Iorana and fell out of the bed, bringing the sheets with her. Iorana laughed.

"God, Iorana, I wouldn't have saved your life all those times if I'd known you would do that every morning." Iorana snickered,

"That's the first time I've done that in a month. Get dressed; I got a call from Bobby."

"What'd he want this time?" Iorana filled her in. Caledonia sighed sadly and nodded.

"Should've known it, I've been getting these weird feelings lately." Cal shouldered a bag and followed Iorana out the motel door. The rain was warm, thankfully, but came down in buckets, and the umbrella-less sixteen year old Iorana pretty much sprinted over to her black four door hardtop Chrysler '68, Cal saying over the heavy rain,

"Shotgun!" Iorana looked over at Cal, rolling her eyes.

"There're only two of us." Cal hopped in and shook the rain still clinging to her clothes off, getting the seats all wet. Iorana didn't do much better.

"I know. Have some fun, will you?" Iorana closed her eyes and exhaled sharply.

"I had to grow up fast, Cal. You know that." Caledonia looked at Iorana sadly and left the subject at that, turning on the radio, and after an hour of driving falling back asleep and snoring loudly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen was sprawled out on the couch, breathing deeply and sleeping lightly, Sam was in the other room on his laptop doing who knew what and Dean was also sleeping, his snores filling the small motel room. The day before, the three had moved to a motel in Montana, as something in a newspaper had caught Sam's attention and he had said he wanted to check it out. Dean and Gwen had agreed, as the deal with Kendra was at a stalemate, and they might as well move along to another case.

Even in sleep Gwen had no peace ever since Kendra had spoken to Dean. Her dreams constantly reminded her of her mother and more horrible memories, always ones that she tried to forget. Gwen whimpered in her sleep and rolled over, and Sam looked up at her, sad and wondering what she was dreaming about. His question was answered immediately, _Her mother. _Sam sighed and considered waking her up, but there was no need to, as there were three knocks on the motel door. Gwen and Dean woke up as Sam slid off the bed, curious, and opened the door.

_Oh, jeez, _Iorana thought as she and Cal stood before the now opened door, a man standing there, _maybe we got the wrong number._

"You're Winchester?" Cal asked, looking up at Sam. Sam glanced at his brother, who could clearly see the two from inside. Dean shrugged.

"Yeah, wh-" But Cal, led by Iorana, had already brushed past Sam, who muttered a startled, "Hey!" Iorana and Cal were taking off their rain soaked jackets, hanging them up on the rack beside the door. Dean stood up, saying sarcastically,

"Well, make yourselves right at home." Iorana picked up on the sarcasm but ignored it, smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks."

**_Yep, there you go. What did you people think of Cal and Iorana? They both have secrets later to be revealed, ones of which you will not expect, hopefully. Guesses are welcome! The idea for them actually stared out all on its own, but I decided to mesh this story with this one together. I still have the original story of them, so I plan to put that one out as soon as this one is finished. That one will be completely without the Winchesters, though. It will explain Iorana's and Cal's past with Bobby, including the history of the two girls. Next chapter will explain what they look like. Hope I captured Bobby okay in this one. Reviews are extremely welcome, and who knows, maybe you will get a prize? _**

**_ (Prize not guaranteed.)_**


	16. Dean does not run a daycare

**_I might as well admit it, Caledonia and Iorana are, as of currently, my favorite characters I've created. If you wanted more of Iorana's sas, here it is! Read on._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own supernatural. Gwen, Caledonia and Iorana are mine, though._**

Gwen, who was still half asleep, heard Sam's and Dean's voices in the other room conversing with two other females, both voices were unfamiliar to her. Sam and Dean sounded slightly startled, so Gwen suspected they didn't know who the two girls were. Curios, Gwen stood up, rubbing the last of sleep from her eyes, and looked around. Her mind hadn't been playing tricks on her, after all. There were two girls standing in the other room, one had long curly blonde hair about to the middle of her back. She had freckles and a light brown complexion that went well with her blue green eyes. Her eyes also held something else, knowledge beyond anyone else in the room, but sadness too, as if she would trade that knowledge for something.

The other girl was taller than the first, but still a little bit shorter than Dean. She had dark brown hair that was straight that fell to about the middle of her back. Her eyes matched her hair and she seemed to be doing most of the talking, while the other girl just stood by her side, listening politely to the dialogue. Both girls looked about sixteen. Dean was talking furiously with the dark haired girl, interrogating her, but the girl had her arms folded across her chest and was saying nothing. Sam and the other girl were silent, watching the fight happening before them. The girl that was silent looked almost bored, as if she saw this every day. No one seemed aware to Gwen's presence at the moment and after several more seconds of watching Dean's failing attempt to get information out of the girl, walked up to the dark haired one and held out her hand, a trace of a smile on Gwen's lips.

"Hi, I'm Gwen and this is Sam, and Dean." She gestured to the two and continued, "Who might you two be?" to Gwen, it had looked like that the girl who had just accepted her hand was stubborn, and therefore responded better to someone who was kind rather than someone who was yelling at her. Gwen ignored Dean's mutter of,

"Would you like some cookies, too?" While it looked like the girl was fighting back a, _"Yes, and milk please_." She instead said with a smile at Gwen,

"Iorana, and this is Cal."

"Caledonia." She corrected, speaking at last. Gwen smiled and nodded respectfully to her, then asked,

"So what are you two doing here?"

"I'm glad to see someone around here is polite," Iorana glanced over at Dean, who had now gone to sulk on his bed, listening to the conversation in the other room. "Bobby sent us. Something about world war three." Dean then exploded with,

"Bobby!" and continued to swear in an undertone while the conversation continued like he'd said nothing. Gwen smiled at Bobby's name, while Sam relaxed slightly, knowing that if they knew Bobby, they weren't here to slit all their throats while they were sleeping.

"So you're hunters, I take it?" Gwen asked and Iorana nodded.

"How old are you two?" Sam asked.

"Sixteen. Cal's…" Iorana trailed off, not exactly sure how old she was.

"Eighty six." Iorana didn't even look at Caledonia; in fact, she nodded and made a face that suggested she thought it was somewhere about there, while Cal just smiled in a way that clearly stated, _'I have my secrets.'_

"I don't run a damn daycare!" Dean yelled from the other room, undoubtedly on the phone with Bobby.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen smiled to herself once a very tired and put out looking Dean sulked into the kitchen where Sam, Gwen, Caledonia and Iorana were seated around a table, all drinking varying forms of liquid. Sam sat with a beer, while Cal had a mug of hot herbal tea that was staring to make Gwen feel dizzy and light headed. Iorana held an almost empty mug which had once been filled to the brim with coffee, (Gwen, when she had ordered it, and privately wrinkled her nose in disgust and then had gone on to wonder how anyone could stand that stuff) And Gwen sat cross-legged on her seat, hot coca warming her hands.

They had all been talking about the case at first, but somewhere along the way it turned into just joking around and having fun, reminiscing on old memories (the oldest being of Caledonia's). Sam had felt extremely uncomfortable with three young girls sitting around the table with him, but became relieved somewhat when he discovered Cal's personality balanced out the uneven scale. Cal, however, also seemed to be the quietest, dodging questions about her past, and only talking about memories that included Iorana. Upon Dean's entrance, Sam threw him a beer.

"I'm guessing you lost a fight?" Iorana inquired slyly, hiding her amused smile by raising her mug to her mouth.

"Shut up." Iorana was getting on Dean's nerves fairly quickly, the second fastest person to do so, Sam being the first.

Suddenly, an odd thought popped into Gwen's head. _Could Cal be…? No. But it would explain the tea and the eighty six remark, as well as why she's avoiding her past… _Gwen looked up at Cal, who was intently sipping tea from her mug. _At least she doesn't have her pinky up_. Gwen observed.

It had been three days since Sam had discovered the newspaper article which had told of three mysterious unsolved deaths in the past month, a newlywed woman, an older couple dating, the man had been killed in that one, and a young teenage girl who had been apparently in a serious relationship with her boyfriend. The two boys and girl had all been killed in the same way, all walked in front of a moving train with their partner watching.

"I'm telling you, Sammy, there's nothing supernatural about this."

"I'm telling _you_ Dean, I think there is."

"On what evidence?"

"Oh, god, they're at it again." Gwen nodded, agreeing with Iorana how annoying this was getting. Caledonia and Iorana had spent the night last night, Dean had become somewhat irritated by this. Gwen didn't know, however, that much of the weight on his shoulders was because of Gwen's birthday problem. Sam and Dean wanted her to actually have a birthday. She was turning thirteen, and they wanted to make it special somehow, and they only had five days left.

"I have a gut feeling." Dean looked around at the quietly sitting audience, making a large gesture to the girls, as if this meant the world.

"Oh, gut feelings," He laughed sarcastically, "well then let's all throw ourselves off a bridge on Sam's gut feelings." Sam sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides, giving up. Iorana pushed herself off the sofa, making it one person lighter. Dean took notice of this and both men looked at her.

"Alright, let's go. I want to settle this." She paused to put her pointer finger up in the air, "Taking bids." Dean looked at Gwen, and Gwen shifted uncomfortably.

"Sorry Dean," She said, looking at Sam. Dean grunted, affronted and betrayed. He stormed to get his jacket.

"Fine." He said tensely. "Let's just go." Iorana raised her eyebrows, saying,

"You havin' your period or something?"

"Are you?" Dean countered, glaring at her, and Iorana smiled, saying conversationally,

"No, thanks for asking. It's next week." And Dean thought Gwen was sometimes a handful. Sam stared at her, a slightly disgusted look on his face, and Gwen snickered at his facial expression, her palm resting on her forehead at Iorana's bravery and spunky attitude. She was definitely different, in a good way, though.

**_I promise a girl moment with Gwen, Iorana and Cal next chapter. That's all folks! Leave a review! Please?! PLEASE?!_**


	17. Caledonia, a veteran

**_Well hello there! Haven't seen you in a long time! Been busy. Yes, I actually have a life and a job that needs attending to, even though I totally want to be able to sit in my bedroom all day, making stories for amazing people like you to read._**

**_Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Sam or Dean, but everything else is pretty much mine. Well, I'm not sure Gwen is 100% mine, because if you think about it, she's like, half Dean too. Caledonia and Iorana are completely mine, though. DO NOT STEAL THEM WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Oh, wait. DON'T STEAL THEM AT ALL, BUT WITH MY PERMISSION YOU CAN BORROW THEM. There, that's better._**

Iorana was the first one out the door, followed by Sam, and Dean followed him huffily a few seconds later, after Cal had told him to scat because she and Gwen were still in their PJs. Gwen had noticeably become more awkward when Cal and Iorana had arrived, Sam and Dean noticed. She had to think twice about everything she said and did now, as there was a higher chance of people noticing her blunder. Dean and Sam she really didn't have to worry about, but with the two girls, she felt more awkward, unsure of what to think of the two, though they seemed to have taken to her right away. Gwen looked over at Cal, who had gotten dressed quickly, was sitting on the sofa, refusing to go out and leave Gwen all alone.

Gwen's mind drifted to Caledonia, and she peeked out behind the doorframe of the bathroom, looking at the strange girl, wondering about who she really was there was something really weird about her. Not in a threatening way, she just wasn't normal somehow.

Caledonia was intently looking at her lap when she felt the curious eyes of Gwen on her. A small smile creeped onto her face, and she said without looking up,

"You have a very penetrating stare; I swear you can see right through me." Cal looked up to see Gwen jump slightly, and then an embarrassed expression came over her face.

"Sorry, I just… you don't say much. I can't tell who you are." Caledonia smiled,

"I guess I just let Iorana do most of the talking around people I don't really know. I promise, though, I usually don't have such a quiet personality." Cal's eyes shone momentarily with secrets and mystery. Gwen wondered if her suspicions about Cal were true.

"Are you, y'know, living?" Gwen blurted, not able to stop herself. Cal smiled in a melancholy sort of way.

"No. What was your first clue?" Gwen was speechless for a moment, then said,

"You're a ghost, then?" Caledonia nodded.

"More or less, I was born in 1927, died in 1943. I was buried, yet I'm still here. I'm not like other ghosts. I have the conciseness I did when I was alive, I still have my soul. I just don't have my physical body; I'm only solid when I want to be." Gwen blinked. Cal seemed perfectly fine about telling her this, like it didn't bother her at all that she was dead.

"How'd you die?" Gwen asked, and Caledonia sighed. She didn't mind she was being asked this, but she didn't want to tell Gwen, as young as she was, as it was a long and violent story.

"I was your age when World War Two began. My whole family were hunters, every bloodline I was connected to were, or at least knew about the paranormal world. As far back as I can remember, I always knew about it, so when reports of supernatural began to rise, hunters flocked to the land we owned, forming a society when war broke out, knowing that the Geranid were behind this. It was natural, of course, that my parents were the leaders of the group. It was fairly large too. Hunters from all over the world. I can't remember the final count, but I know it was somewhere in the hundreds, and that wasn't even half of the hunters on the planet at that time. We called ourselves the SOPWAS Bulwark, SOPWAS standing for Secret Organization Protecting the World Against the Supernatural." Gwen's eyes widened, as she had always thought that not many people knew about their world, that it was only, like, twenty individuals in the USA.

"Every last hunter that we could get our hands on was needed, so the girls dressed like boys and fought. My parents had a battle plan, and I was split into a small group, half of them younger than me and had no idea what they were doing. The others were older than me, but they didn't know what to do either. I took charge, myself being thirteen." Gwen hung on every word, the scene playing in black and white before her eyes, total horror. Would she have to go on her own with no one she knew and fight?

"My parents and all of my relatives were either in the same group or close to the others. I was the youngest of my siblings, so when the side everyone I knew was bombed… I was alone. But I had people to protect of my own in my group. I would morn them later. We managed to get through alive and all remaining hunters went back to base, half of us were gone. All of my family, all of their friends, dead. We regrouped. I was elected the new head." Gwen's mouth was open with horror.

"In 1943, two years later, we had this plan to infiltrate the bunker where an important Geranid stayed. The death of him would eventually cause the rest to crumble and fall. I was leading a group of six, slowly making our way to get to him. I should have known that when we got there, they were prepared. We killed him, finally it was over. My family's deaths were avenged." A look of reminiscing sweet relief came over Caledonia's face.

"An officer suddenly barged through the open door and shot me. I was buried, and a week after I came back. I didn't try to go back and join them, as I knew that they were just getting over my death and my turning up would shatter the SOPWAS Bulwark." She paused, looking at Gwen, as for the time she was telling the story, she had been looking at her palms.

"So when I heard that a Geranid had been sighted, well, we came running." Cal had a slight smile on her face, attempting to replicate happiness, but her eyes were definitely shinier than usual. Gwen was speechless, not exactly sure if she was going to burst into tears or hug Caledonia.

"I'm so sorry." She managed to choke out, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking.

"It's okay. But because you caught the Geranid early, we might be able to avoid World War Three entirely." Gwen nodded, and Cal stood up quickly,

"We better get going." Even though Gwen had a million more questions to ask her, she knew now wasn't the time. She was surprised that Dean hadn't interrupted them to tell them to hurry up.

The only reason he hadn't was because he and Sam were both distracted at the moment with Iorana, Sam after many arguments with Dean and a reluctant agreement, had decided to tell her the problem they had, as they still had no idea what to do for Gwen's birthday. Throughout Sam's explanation, Iorana had stood there, a smirk on her face, arms crossed, and leaning on one leg. Once a slightly uncomfortable Sam had finished the explanation, Iorana said with a smile that clearly told them she couldn't believe how stupid they were,

"How old she turning?"

"Thirteen."

"Alright. From the kindness of my heart, I will try to get to know Gwen a bit more before making any conclusions. She doesn't seem to be the kind of girl that wants to go on a shopping spree, at least." Dean snorted with laughter, thinking, _The kindness of her heart. Like she has any._

Iorana turned on her heel and walked back to the motel room before either one of the boys could answer to get the two girls, as they were still in there. She opened the door and saw a slightly put out Gwen and Cal before her, looking as if they were about to open the door themselves. Iorana made a quick deduction and said with a slightly sad look,

"She telling you war stories again?" she addressed Gwen, and Cal raised her eyebrows at Iorana. Iorana glanced over to the two Winchesters leaning up against their Impala, talking heatedly.

"You wanna ride with us, Gwen?" Iorana asked, looking down at her, and she nodded, looking at the two arguing brothers with a look of tiredness on her face, as though she was sick of having to listen to them fight constantly. Catching sight of cal and Iorana's car, Gwen muttered, more to herself than anything,

"What is it with hunters and classical cars?" Iorana chuckled.

"Guess it's a soft spot." The four door hardtop Chrysler '68's black, shiny paint glinted in the rising sun, the reflections of its surroundings slightly distorted. Getting in, Gwen rested her head on the back of her seat, eyes closed, thinking pensively. Iorana started the car and pulled up beside the impala's passenger side, Sam and Dean staring at her as she said,

"Gwen's riding with us, gotten tired of you two bickerin' like an old married couple."

"Are you even qualified to drive? Do you even have a driver's license?" Dean asked, looking at her, clearly annoyed. Iorana just grinned like a manic as she pulled away, flashing her taillights at them as she took the lead.

"Do you have a driver's license?" Gwen asked tentatively. Iorana looked at her from the mirror, grinning happily.

"'Corse I do, I just like messin' with Dean." Caledonia just shook her head silently while Gwen beamed, a fire alight in her eyes, showing a slightly different side in her that had been dormant since her mother died.

**_Ugggghhhh! Sorry that took so darn long to update. Or it feels like a long time, I have no real clue. I know what I said last time, but I really do promise that there will be a girl moment with all of them next chapter. I just had no idea how complex Caledonia was. And hopefully there will be some snippet about Gwen's dead mom if I can integrate it and remember... What was I talking about? _**

**_I know I changed the title, and I'm not supposed to do that, but I didn't like the first one. It has a meaning under the letters about Gwen, and maybe I'm asking too much from the audience, but do tell me if you think you know what it means because I'm sorta nervous about the name change. So guess away! Maybe I'll change it again if I still don't like it. Uurrrk. I just can't settle._**

**_ See that big box just below these words? Well it wants you to click there and then type some letters and words that will make me very happy! _**


	18. All in the same boat

**_Omigod! This chapter took FOREVER! And I don't even like it. What's up with that? So this chapter sorta kinda explains a few things about people and it has basically no Dean or Sam in it. I know. Sad huh? But I promise I'm working on it. _**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Sam or Dean or Bobby or supernatural or ::Sniff Sniff:: the Impala. God, I love that car. Come for the demon slaying, stay for the car, right?_**

After several awkward ringing minutes of silence, Iorana said to Caledonia, deep in thought,

"Were you tellin' her war stories? She looks real depressed."

Gwen jerked back into life at the mention of herself. "I'm fine. Just… thinking."

Iorana pretended to get nervous, "Oh, god, you planning our deaths already?"

Gwen grinned, and glanced up at Iorana, who was also smiling. Gwen played along. "Nah, not yet. Haven't ticked me off to bad."

Glancing at her through the rearview mirror with a smile in her eyes, Iorana said, "You can swear, you know. Won't whip ya, I promise." Gwen grinned, but shook her head. Iorana shrugged in response.

"Surprised Dean hasn't gotten to ya yet, with the mouth he's got on him. Got a very wide vocabulary too. How long you been with those two anyway?"

Gwen though for a moment. "'Bout a month." Had it really been just a month? No, can't be. Gwen did her math again in her head and got the same answer. It felt like at least a year, with all the things that had happened. And those two months in the orphanage had felt like centuries. Every time she'd gotten up, she expected to find herself old and wrinkled.

"A month?" Iorana said, disbelievingly. "They didn't tell me that. How long you've known 'em?"

"'Bout a month." Iorana turned around for a half a second to see if Gwen was lying, but no. She had no smile suggesting she'd lied.

"What relation do you have to those two anyway?" Cal asked Gwen, and Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't told you?" Cal and Iorana both shook their heads, and Gwen muttered, "Guess not. Dean's my dad." Iorana had noticed the similarities between the two in the back of her head, but it had never really occurred to her until now. She had been distracted.

"Your biological father?" Iorana said voice rose slightly, but not in anger.

"Yeah."

"And you've only known him for a month?"

"Yeah."

"He doesn't seem like the dad type." Cal said thoughtfully, not really noticing Iorana's disbelief.

"He wasn't. Isn't. Didn't know I existed until a month ago." Gwen said, no trace of sadness or any real emotion at all in her voice, except for maybe a slight interest in the conversation. Iorana fell back in her seat, sighing, eyes still widened slightly from the new information.

There was silence for a moment before Caledonia said quietly, "What happened to your mom?"

A serious silence fell like a veil of tangible sorrow, and Gwen said in an attempt to put on a brave face, "Dead. Three months ago."

Iorana briefly closed her eyes and whispered, "We're all in the same boat, then." Gwen looked up at her and they made eye contact for a second through the windshield mirror before Iorana pulled her eyes back to the road.

"How?" Cal prompted quietly.

Gwen shook her head, "Dunno."

"Was it something…?"

"I don't think so. Maybe. I don't know."

"Was it some dieses or something?" Gwen wracked her brains back to before, when her mother was sick. The autopsy report had never come back. She finally came up with an image in her head of the tip of a long, black gash on her mother's forearm, partially hidden by clothing. Gwen had dismissed the fact immediately, thinking that it had been mud or dirt at the time. Gwen finally nodded slowly, saddened by the topic. Yet it wasn't as painful as it usually was. Somehow it was dulled with the two girls.

"Infected cut, probably."

"Couldn't you have gotten stuff to disinfect it?" Iorana asked.

"Couldn't afford it."

"Well then, medical insurance or something?"

Gwen shook her head, smiling at the memories of her mother. "No. She was independent. She accepted no help from the government, even when things got horrible. She said that she wanted to raise a child taught not to mooch off other people. Looking back, she really should've gotten the help." Gwen laughed slightly, remembering how stubborn her mother had been.

The three girls went silent, thinking for a moment before Iorana said, "She sounds like she meant well, like she was a good mother."

Gwen smiled. "She was."

Finding that the sadness from her mother's death was completely gone, Gwen smiled slightly and leaned her head against the glass window. What was done was done, and nothing could change it. Her mother's death had started a chain reaction, if she hadn't passed; she would have never met her father and uncle, or Caledonia and Iorana. She would have never known about this world, and she preferred this life compared to her old one. She still missed and loved her mother, but she had suddenly concluded that it was supposed to happen, for some reason. Perhaps maybe talking had changed her attitude, perhaps it was a different reason that she didn't know yet.

Her father and uncle. They were, by blood, her family, Sam and Dean, but Gwen didn't think of them as any family member of hers, more like they were just friends of her distant relative or something. Perhaps she should start calling them 'Dad' and 'Uncle Sam'. She held back her laughter at the thought. She hoped they didn't want them to say that aloud anytime soon.

Gwen's good mood was dampened slightly when Iorana's words came back to her, **"**_We're all in the same boat, then."_ Her mom was dead too then. Or at least her mother, her dad could still be alive as Gwen's was. Gwen was tempted to ask about it but restrained doing so as Iorana certainly didn't seem like a girl that would spill about her life at one simple question. Iorana did have a past, probably a distressing one too, but Gwen knew that she would never answer unless it was absolute perfect timing after they trusted each other to get their backs. Gwen threw a glance at Iorana and saw her completely focused on the road.

Gwen's fingers brushed the scar she had on her arm left by the Geranid. It had nearly completely healed and it hurt no more. She wondered what it had wanted with her. It did make sense if it did just wish her death, but Gwen had taught herself to spin every possibility since she had seen the Shwu the first time. It had just seemed to want to capture her alive, but not unharmed. Gwen had a feeling it'd try again, but this time she would be ready. She kept a gun always on or near her, with a knife hidden in each boot with multiple anti possession charms on her. Her hand to hand combat was better than Sam or Dean's from experience, and now she was thankful for it. She was so ready. Neither Dean nor Sam had told her about the Geranid after her, but Gwen's quick thinking had her prepared anyway. She had learned to be ready for anything and everything, including the very worst of the worst.

Gwen who was immersed in her thoughts did not notice the old man at the side of the road with his hand out in front of him, searching for a ride. The man's hair whipped about his face when Iorana speeded by and the man turned sharply on his foot and walked into the forest, unseen by the Winchester brothers as they quickly followed at slightly a slower speed. The man morphed into a teenage boy, the form he was most comfortable in, and followed the cars.

It had been his fault that they knew know, that their cover was blown. If he had only gotten the girl to hold still then he could've done it. She was smarter and faster than any of them had expected. She would be a prize. Perhaps the Geranid should let her get a little bit more accomplished before he brought her in, so his reputation would rise. Any of the Winchesters or these two new hunters would get him respect. He needed it, being the youngest of his kind. They all said he was still learning; that he needed to think before he acted, and act quickly.

The Winchesters were a high grade of hunters, and even the youngest one would be valuable. He knew that Gwen had prepared for this, but so had he. Next time he would not fail. Next time he would earn respect. Next time he could not fail.

Gwen Winchester was his.

**_WAHHH! I don't wanna go back to school tomorrow! ::very, very sad face:: but alas, I must. BUT I DON'T WANNA! Believe me, if I could, I would sit here all day every day and write so you wonderful people can keep reading and I'll keep doing what I love best. Sorry this one took so long to get out, been busy with squeezing the last of summer out of this year, and my parents have been dragging me all over the state. There are so many things I need to do, pick out an outfit, (T-shirt and jeans) finish cleaning my room, (It's a three day process)(space for my new Mac air which my school is giving me!) Go school shopping. Yeah… I wait until the last minute. So anyway, what'd you guys think? I think I really should've picked out a better name for my main character… one that actually GOES WITH HER LAST NAME! I miss some of your reviews! So, um, review and stuff! _**


End file.
